Energon is Thicker Than Water (EITTW 1)
by Burning-Stars98
Summary: Decepticon attacks are minimal, weather is fine, and the Bee Team is continuing their long-term mission of protecting Earth from danger no problem... ...That is until something impossible happens and the team has to deal with a new arrival. Strongarm thinks she's dangerous, Bumblebee thinks she's impossible... The bot thinks Bumblebee's her father. (AFTER RID2015)
1. A Patrol Gone Wrong

The morning had started out fairly normal. The bots had gotten out of sleep mode and checked up on the scanners for any possible Decepticon signals. Nothing so far. Bumblebee had seemed to be in some discomfort, but had thought little of it.

"Just a little stiff from sleep." he'd insisted.

In previous months, the lack of Decepticon activity had made the team antsy, but now it felt somewhat likely. The only known Decepticons on Earth were Steeljaw, a group of Vehicons that were waiting for Megatron's return, and possibly some other cons like Flamesnort that had been here on Earth for ages and had no idea that the war had been over for years.

Still, they knew Steeljaw would make a move eventually, and so into afternoon, Bumblebee, Cadet Strongarm and Sideswipe had gone out on patrol, leaving Fixit with the scanners, and Drift and Grimlock to keep an eye on the Scrapyard in case Steeljaw made a move against their home base again. Denny and Russell were still cleaning up from the last attack.

"Ah..." Sideswipe sighed. "...It's so good to get out on the open road and just drive! Taking Denny to the grocery store and back just isn't enough."

"Surprisingly, I agree with Sideswipe. I was getting what the humans call "Cabin Fever" just sitting around going over the police codes."

Sideswipe pulled closer to the police bot. "You, getting tired of studying? Are you sure you're not coming down with Brain Rust!?"

"Lay off her, Sideswipe." Bumblebee ordered as he pulled up between them again. "We all needed a drive."

"Are you certain you're alright, Lieutenant?" Strongarm inquired. "You've been lagging behind a little."

"Like I told you Strongarm, I'm fine. My wheels are just a little stiff from lack of use, that's all... If you're so bored, Sideswipe, you can always head back to Cybertron."

"Are you kidding? Cybertron's gonna be even more boring than Earth! At least here I don't have to worry about scraplets, or getting pulled over by some trigger-happy cadet..."

"That was one time, Sideswipe!"

"And several times here! Remember when Clampdown locked us up in that shipping container?"

"How can I forget? I was stuck chestplate to chestplate with you for hours...!"

"Enough...!" Bumblebee grumbled. "That was the past. We need to keep looking forward and not worry about past offenses."

"Remember when Optimus suggested we become ambassadors of Cybertron to Earth?" Sideswipe inquired. "How long do you think it'll be before they make it official and we can expose ourselves to the rest of the humans?"

"Probably some time, Sideswipe. We can't just jump in there, they'll think we're dangerous and will retaliate."

Sorry to bother you, Lieutenant... Fixit's voice apologized over the comms. ...But the scanners seem to be picking up another cybertronian signal near your position.

"Decepticon?" Sideswipe asked.

**Unclear...The signal keeps flickering in and out, and I can't identify it.**

"We'll look into it." Bumblebee informed. "Thanks, Fixit."  
He looked ahead as the road split into two in front of them. "Strongarm, you and Sideswipe take the left side, I'll take the right. We'll radio each other if we find anything, and please...try not to break anything."

"Will do." Strongarm replied, then she and Sideswipe pulled away from Bumblebee as the fork got closer, then disappeared behind the trees.

Bumblebee gave a hard sigh, somewhat glad the two teenagers were gone for the time being. He wasn't about to tell Strongarm that the discomfort wasn't in his wheels, but rather his chest. A faint, but persistent pressure and throbbing behind his chest plate that wouldn't go away. As the road turned, the density of the trees between him and his teammates increased, until he was no longer able to hear their voices or wheels turning on the pavement.  
He moved slowly down the road, keeping his optics peeled for a flash of metal, movement in the trees, anything to signal the presence of the signal Fixit was picking up, but all he saw was the darkness of the dense tree cover.

He'd gotten a mile or two down the road when the pain increased significantly. He grimaced, trying to ignore it, but it continued to increase until he finally pulled over on the side of the road. Strongarm was right, something was definitely wrong.

He drove into the trees a little ways until he was sure no humans passing by could see him, then transformed into robot mode to look himself over...

...That turned out to be a mistake.  
_

"...So suppose we do get permission to expose ourselves, should we go to the government first, or just start with Crown City here?"

"I don't know." Strongarm admitted. "Didn't Blurr say that everyone on Griffin Rock knew about them?"

"Yeah, something about an alien invasion and having to blow their cover to save the humans... whatever, what about it?"

"How did the humans react?"

"They'd seen the Rescue Bots around for years, and knew that they were friendly and wanted to help people, so they took it really well. But us...We've been in hiding all this time, so I'm not sure how well they'd-"

**S-Strongarm, Sideswipe...!** Bumblebee stammered over the comms. **C-Come to my position...Hurry...!**

"Lieutenant? Are you okay?" Strongarm asked, but there was no response. Both bots slammed on their brakes and then twisted into a U-Turn to head back the way they'd come. "Hold on, Sir. We're on our way!"

"What happened...?" Sideswipe mumbled. "We didn't hear anything of a struggle or fight at all!"

"Let's just hope he's not too badly hurt..."

The pair came around the corner of the fork then took off down the road Bumblebee had taken. After a few moments of driving, they heard Bumblebee's voice cry out in the trees, and they transformed and hurried towards it. "We're coming, Bee!" Sideswipe called. "Just hold on!"

"Lieutenant, we-" Strongarm stopped as broke through the trees and saw their leader, panting and on his knees as a bubbling and pulsing mass of liquid metal protruded from his chest plate.

"Bee, are you okay!?" Sideswipe asked worriedly.

"No...!" Bumblebee whimpered. "It feels... Like my spark's giving out...!"

"D-Don't worry, sir. We'll get that off of you!"

"N-No!" Bumblebee shouted, stopping his cadet's advance towards him. "It's...It's c-coming _out_ of me-Aaah...!"

"Fixit, we need any information you've got on an event involving liquid metal coming out of a cybertronian!" Strongarm relayed. "Quickly!"

Sideswipe bent down to his leader, putting a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. "Is there anything we can do?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "I-I don't know...! Nnnnuh!"  
He cried out in pain as the mass grew in a sudden spurt, his optics tightly shut.

"Fixit, hurry!" Strongarm warned, trying to keep her voice calm but failing.

**I'm trying, Strongarm! But I can't find anything about what you're describing!** Fixit replied.

"Keep looking. We don't have any idea what affect this might have on-"  
A scream from Bumblebee cut her off as the mass suddenly jumped free of his chest, falling onto the ground nearby, and then their leader collapsed into Sideswipe's arms. "Lieutenant!"

Bumblebee trembled in Sideswipe's arms, his body hot and smoking in places and his optics glazed over.

"He's gonna be okay, right...!?" Sideswipe asked worriedly.

"I...I don't know." Strongarm admitted. She looked up to the mass and gasped as it started to take on a more stable form. More specifically, a sleek metal body, about the size of a small transformer, half their own height. "What in the Allspark...!? F-Fixit, activate the ground bridge. Bumblebee is down."

After a few seconds, the groundbridge appeared, and Sideswipe dragged the downed autobot through it. Strongarm started to follow, but paused as she looked at the body. Fixit might want it for study. She picked it up and then followed Sideswipe through the groundbridge.


	2. Attack of the Protoform?

"Bumblebee!" Russell shouted as Sideswipe came out of the groundbridge, bringing Bumblebee's unconscious form with him. "Is he...?"

"He's alive." Sideswipe assured. "But I don't know for how long."

"Let me see him..." Fixit wheeled over, examining Bumblebee as Strongarm came through the Groundbridge, carrying another cybertronian.

"Who's that?" Denny asked. "A decepticon?"

"Not sure." Strongarm laid the limp form down. "After the mass broke away from the lieutenant, it turned into...this."

Fixit turned, gasping as he saw the other form. "A protoform...! And you said that it formed out of _Bumblebee_?"

"Yes... The lieutenant was in a lot of pain."

"What's a protoform?" Russell asked.

"Protoforms are a cybertronian's first stage of life, before we become unique individuals." Sideswipe replied. "But they're supposed to come from the Well of Allsparks, not... Other bots."

"Does this mean that Bumblebee was...pregnant?"

"No!" Strongarm informed. "It's not _possible_ for cybertronians to reproduce from each other."

"I think our current situation proves it to be possible, Strongarm." Drift informed.

"...The Lieutenant has gone into a low-level stasis." Fixit reported. "His systems are repairing themselves, but it may take a while for him to get back up to full strength. His body and spark were put under a lot of strain."

"But he'll be okay?" Russell asked.

"Yes."

"Now all we have to do is figure out what to do with...This." Strongarm muttered, kicking the protoform a little with her foot.

"Don't do that!" Sideswipe argued, scooping up the body away from Strongarm's foot. "You might _hurt_ it!"

"It's got no spark, Sideswipe. It can't without the Allspark granting it to them...It's just an empty shell."

"Empty shell or not, it's still cybertronian and should be taken care of." Denny replied. "Right, Fixit?"

Fixit gave his friend a glare. It was well-known that the minicon was against Denny touching his equipment, purely because Denny had the tendency to break it while trying to see how it worked.  
"Yes...Put it down over there, Sideswipe. It's not like it can go anywhere."

Sideswipe carried the protoform over to a corner, leaning it down against one of the stacks. "Keep looking through the files, Fixit. There's gotta be something about this somewhere."

"What if there is not?" Drift asked. "Considering our long list of unusual occurances here on Earth, it _is_ possible that this has never happened to a cybertronian before."

"Or at least not on record." Fixit replied.

"As long as Bumblebee is going to be okay, I don't much care if it's happened before or not." Sideswipe replied. "Still...To get some answers would be nice..."

"Dad..." Russell murmured. "...How do two _humans_ have kids?"

Denny stiffened. "Oh! Well, Uh...You see it's like... Y-Your mother would be better at explaining it. Maybe when she gets back from Copenhagen, she can-"

Then Bumblebee's optics flew open with a gasp, saving Denny from further explaining as all attention went to the downed Autobot.

"Lieutenant!" Strongarm exclaimed, putting her hand down on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Bumblebee placed a hand on his chest, then closed his eyes again as he wheezed. "S-Strongarm...!"

"Just rest, Bee." Russell assured. "You're safe now... Back in the scrapyard."

"What...What happened...?"

"We're...still kinda trying to figure that out." Sideswipe murmured.

"T-The signal we were tracking...?"

"Didn't find it. Or at least...I don't think we did..." He then looked towards where he'd placed the protoform, only to find empty ground. "Wait... Where'd the protoform go!?"

"Someone moved it!" Russell replied.

"Or... It moved _itself_." Drift murmured.

"It didn't have a spark, it couldn't have-"  
A loud crash made Strongarm stop. "...That better have been Grimlock."

"I don't think so." Grimlock replied, standing only a few feet from them.

Strongarm, Sideswipe and Russell took off into the scrapyard, skidding to a stop as they saw what had caused the crash.  
The protoform was slowly wandering down one of the aisles of stuff, their feet shuffling on the ground and their arms out in front to catch themselves if they fell. Their white, colorless eyes seemed to be surveying their surroundings, but thankfully, it hadn't scanned anything yet.

"...Hey." Sideswipe whispered.  
The protoform paused, turning to look towards them. "Hey, little guy... Or girl, whichever."  
Then with lightning-fast movement, two tentacles shot out from behind the protoform and wrapped around Sideswipe. "H-Hey! What're you-" He stiffened as the tentacles' ends touched his head, then went limp with his eyes staring blankly.

"Sideswipe!" Russell shouted.

Strongarm swung her Decepticon Hunter at the protoform and the protoform dropped Sideswipe to the ground as they backed away. They put a hand to their head, which took on a red color, then looked up angrily at Strongarm with newly-colored, blue optics before taking off into the scrapyard again. "Sideswipe, are you okay?"

The red sports car gave a moan as his optics fluttered open again, dimmer than usual. "Ugh... What was that?"

"I don't know, but we'd better find it before it hurts anyone else."

Sideswipe waved a hand absentmindedly. "You go on ahead... I'll catch up...When the world stops being a kaleidoscope..."

Strongarm looked to Russell. "Russell, keep an eye on him until he recovers... Strongarm to Command Center, protoform is on the loose in the scrapyard and has already taken down Sideswipe."

**What does 'Taken Down' mean?** Fixit asked.

"I don't know! She touched him, and-" Strongarm froze as she heard a yelp from Fixit, then the comm went dead. "Fixit? Fixit, come in! Scrud, she must've gotten to him first!"

"This protoform is proving to be an adversary already..." Drift murmured as they hurried towards the command center. Entering the clearing, they found Fixit slumped over the console, appearing to be in the same groggy state that Sideswipe had been in after his attack.

Strongarm looked back towards the trailer where Bumblebee was lying still. "...We can't let her attack the lieutenant. If she does that to fully-functioning bots, she could offline him in his weakened state!"

Drift nodded, unsheathing his blades as they looked around the scrapyard, which had become suspiciously quiet.

Then came a yelp from Grimlock. "This way!"  
The duo took off into the stacks again, finding the dinobot on his side on the ground. "Grim, are you okay!?"

"Whatever that thing did, it hurt!" Grimlock informed as he rolled over and got up to his feet again. "It was like gettin' stabbed in the head with one of Drift's swords!"

"Are you still able to fight?"

Grimlock smirked as he smashed his fists together. "Just try and _stop_ me...!"

Strongarm grinned, at least Grim was too big for them to seriously incapacitate. "Did you see where it went?"

"Nope. It knocked me over then took off somewhere. It's fast, though. Really fast."

A scream from back the way they'd come caught their attention. "Jetstorm!" Drift exclaimed, then they hurried back out of the stacks, Grimlock following. They reached the clearing and found both of Drift's students on the ground, the protoform unhooking her tentacles from Jetstorm's limp body. "You _dare_ attack my students!?"

The protoform backed up, putting her hands onto her head as her arms turned red and black. Whatever she was doing, it wasn't just harming Strongarm's team, but herself as well. Her lower legs now resembled Grimlock's, her helm like Sideswipe's, her arms like Slipstream and Jetstorm's... it looked like she changed to take on the attributes of anyone she attacked.

"You're going down!" Strongarm shouted, firing at the attacker.

The protoform easily dodged, but stumbled to the side a little as she glared at Strongarm.  
Her tentacles waved a little, then she fired at Strongarm and Drift.

Strongarm ducked the attack, but a yelp from Drift told her he hadn't been so lucky. Her teammate fell to his knees, and the protoform looked to be straining in order to attack any further as her tentacles turned orange. The only Autobots she hadn't attacked was Bumblebee and herself, and she couldn't let the protoform attack Bumblebee when he was already so weak.

"Come on, I'm right here!" She taunted.

The protoform backed up, her tentacles curling up against her back as she looked around, she then fell backwards as Strongarm fired, hitting the dirt before scrambling away from Grimlock's feet. "L-Leave!" she shouted. "Leave!"

"I'm not going _anywhere_...!"

"She's trying to tell you to leave her _alone_, Strongarm..."

Strongarm turned to see Bumblebee getting up from the trailer. "Lieutenant, stay back! She's-"

"Just a protoform..." He murmured. "A Virocon Protoform." He got down on the ground, reaching out towards the shape crawling across the ground. "Come here... I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise."

"But Sir-"

Bumblebee shook his head, then allowed the virocon to crawl up to him. "She doesn't know any better... She's just trying to make sense of all of this, but she keeps getting interrupted. No wonder she's taking on the attributes of everyone she touches."

The virocon's tentacles reached up to Bumblebee's head slowly, her sad eyes never leaving his gaze. "Bee..." she whispered.

"Yes..." Bumblebee replied. The virocon came a faint smile then attached, and Bumblebee shuddered for a moment before closing his eyes.

"Strongarm, did you..." Sideswipe's voice trailed off as he came over. "What's going on?"

"The Lieutenant told me not to stop her." Strongarm murmured. "Though I don't know _why_."

Then, the protoform started to change. The various colors she'd stolen from the others changed to a mutual blue-green color, and the copied parts of the Autobots took on more unique variations of them. After several moments, she broke away from Bumblebee and gave a soft sigh before resting her head on his chest gently. "...Thank...you..." she whispered.

"I don't know where you came from, but you've had quite the first day, huh?"

"Is it safe to come out!?" Denny called.

"Y-Yes, Denny. It's safe..."  
The virocon crawled up onto the trailer, nestling herself next to Bumblebee and closing her eyes. Bumblebee sighed, laying down as well. "We'll sort this out later... Right now, I need a looooong recharge..."


	3. A Bot by Any Other Name

By the next morning, Bumblebee had mostly recovered from his ordeal, though he promised Fixit that he'd take it easy for a few days. The others had given him an explanation of what he'd missed, and Bumblebee almost wanted to agree with Strongarm, that it wasn't possible, but here she was... Proof of the impossible. He couldn't help but notice the way she placed herself against him, he'd even woken up with her arms around his waist.

He finally requested to go on a simple, short, early-morning patrol with Drift, just to get back into the routine. Fixit allowed it, and Drift promised to return Bumblebee if their leader showed any signs of fatigue, much to Bee's chagrin.

The virocon slept until mid-morning. Sideswipe watched as the little cybertronian sat up and stretched, then looked around the scrapyard curiously.  
"Mornin', pipsqueak." he greeted. "You're not going to attack us again, are you?"

The virocon shook her head. She swung her legs back and forth as she looked around the scrapyard again. "...Where's Bumblebee?" She asked after a moment of searching.

"Out on patrol with Drift. He'll be back soon."

The virocon looked disappointed, but she gave a nod.

"My name's Sideswipe, by the way."

"I am... Um ...I don't know."

Strongarm came over to the virocon. "I am Cadet Strongarm."

"I know...You sure like to shoot at people, don't you?"

Sideswipe stifled a laugh as Strongarm stiffened at the remark, then they turned as Bumblebee and Drift rolled back into the scrapyard. "See? I told you."

The virocon got up onto her feet and waved at Bumblebee as he transformed back into robot mode. "You're okay!"

"I'm fine." Bumblebee replied. "It takes more than...whatever that was to keep me down."

"Okay!" She hopped off of the trailer. "Can I explore, please?"

"Fine, off you go. But stay in the yard."  
She gave an excited giggle and disappeared into the stacks, and Bumblebee shook his head. "...She's going to be a handful."

"That's an understatement." Strongarm muttered. "...What do we do about her, Sir?"

"Does_ anything_ need to be done?" Drift asked. "Odd arrival or not, she is still an autobot."

"Not yet, she's not. She doesn't even have any formal training, or even a symbol of allegiance!"

"Stop picking on her, Strongarm." Sideswipe defended. "You're the only one she didn't probe, so it's not like you even have a good reason to dislike her!"

"I don't _know_ what to do about it yet, I need time... She's here, so we need to get used to it." The leader gave a sigh. "Being a virocon, she'd be much better suited for Cybertron...Not here."

"I'm sure she'll find her place on the team, Bee." Sideswipe encouraged. "Maybe as an assistant to Fixit."

"Maybe...We should worry about that signal Fixit picked up yesterday for now, we can deal with our new arrival later..."

Meanwhile, the virocon was dashing about in the stacks, occasionally picking something up that caught her fancy and examining it, a few times trying to see how it worked. She'd reached the toasters when Russell came around the corner. "Oh, hey there." He greeted.

The virocon looked up from the toaster she held. "Hi!" she replied, looking back at the toaster and flipping it around in her hands. "What _is_ this?"

"It's a toaster. You put a piece of food in it and it toasts it to a golden brown... Or burns it, depending on who you talk to."

"You burn your food... On purpose?"

"Yeah, I don't really understand it either." Russell climbed up onto one of the shelves so he was closer to her eye level. "We didn't officially meet yesterday. I'm Russell."

"Hi, Russell."

"So, have you thought of a name for yourself yet?"

She shook her head. "No... I don't know yet. How did you get your name?"

"Well, my parents thought of it for me before I was born."

"Hmm...We're supposed to get our names from somebody else too, I think..."

"Maybe Bumblebee can help you think of a name."

The young bot gave a sigh. "He doesn't seem to like me very much."

"He's just not used to you yet. You're new, but he and the other bots will come around."

"Maybe..." She returned the toaster to it's place on one of the shelves and got to her feet again. "...Could you show me around?"

Russell grinned. "Sure thing! Who knows? Maybe one of these doodads will have the perfect name for you!"

"Okay!"  
_

The pair wandered through the stacks, and Russell found that most of what caught the virocon's attention were little trinkets that his Dad had collected: Spinnng tops, bottle caps, and they had even paused for him to teach her how to play with the domino set she'd found.

As they neared the clearing again, the virocon picked up a tiny device from on top of one of the refridgerators, turning it on her palm with the tip of her finger. "I think this broke off of something."

Russell took it. "Nah... It's a flashdrive. You put information and files into it from one computer, and then you can move it from that computer to another one."

A sparkle appeared in the little cybertronian's optics. "That's what I do! I'm a Flashdrive!"

Russell smirked. "See? I told you we'd find your name in all of this stuff! Come on, let's go tell the others."

Flashdrive hurried after Russell through the stacks, but they both paused at the opening of the clearing as they heard bickering.

"She's not that bad, Strongarm..."

"How can you say that!? She attacked all of us yesterday without a thought, you included!" Strongarm crossed her arms. "She's dangerous and needs to be taught some discipline."

"Oh come on, she's just a kid! Don't tell me you weren't reckless and overly curious when you first sparked!"

"You never left that stage, Punk...!"

"ENOUGH!" Bumblebee shouted, breaking up the bickering between the two. "Regardless of our opinions of her, she stays. If only so we can make sure she doesn't blow our cover."

"Flashdrive...?" Russell murmured as the virocon started to walk back the way she'd come.

"I'll tell them later. They seem busy right now, and I'd better not interrupt..." She replied, then hurried into the stacks again.

Russell sighed. He kind of knew how she felt. When he'd first gotten here, most of the kids had teased him because of his first attempt at football, but Hank and the bots had helped him find his spot on the team, and now he fit right in with them. Maybe that was all she needed, somebody to help her find her own nitch.  
He hurried after her. "Hey, wait a second! I know things seem a little rocky today, but it's only your first day! You'll do better tomorrow."

Flashdrive bent down to him. "You think so?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Okay, Russell..."

Russell smiled. She seemed to be a little kid in mentality, but was much more behaved than Bumblebee was when he was hit by one of Quillfire's quills. "You want to play another round of dominos?"

"Sure!"  
_

By the time the afternoon had rolled around, Flashdrive had managed to beat Russell twice in a game of dominos, and both of them had gotten bored of it and went their separate ways. Flashdrive had returned to the clearing, and she hopped up on the trailer, raising her hands to the air. "Everybody, my name is Flashdrive!" She announced.

"Good for you, Tiny!" Sideswipe called from somewhere else in the yard. "I-I mean Flashdrive!"

Flashdrive giggled, and then hopped down to the ground again. She wasn't sure if everyone had heard her, but perhaps they all would remember whenever they talked to her next. She noticed Strongarm collecting some parts from a pile. Strongarm didn't seem to like her very much, but maybe all Flashdrive needed to do was become her friend.

"Hey Strongarm...?" Flashdrive kicked the dirt a little as she walked over to the police cadet. "...Do you want to be friends?"

Strongarm turned towards her with an armful of machine parts. "I'd like for you to take these to Fixit. Since you're obviously staying, you might as well put yourself to good use."

Flashdrive took the parts and sighed. "Why don't you like me, Strongarm?"

"What makes you say I don't like you?"

"A lot of stuff... Did I do something wrong? If I did, I-"

"You attacked my friends for no good reason."

"I didn't _mean_ to hurt them!"

"So you_ tell_ me..."

Flashdrive's eyebrows furrowed, and her visor dropped over her eyes. "...Okay." She mumbled, then took the last part from the Cadet and carried them away towards the clearing. "What am I doing wrong...?"  
She dropped the parts down in front of the Command Center, then walked over to her corner and picked up the rubber ball she'd found earlier in the day and tossed it back and forth in between her hands.

"...You seem to be in a bad mood."

She looked up at the voice, and sighed as Grimlock bent down in front of her. "Grim...Did Strongarm like you when you came here?"

"Sort of... I mean, there was that time when Minitron took control of me and I acted like I was still bad for a while...She thought I had been trying to fool them, but when I proved I was on their side, she started to like me better. Why?"

Flashdrive sighed. "...Because I tried to be nice, but she's still mad at me..."

"Strongarm's just hard to impress..." Sideswipe expressed as he came over as well. "..._Really_ hard to impress."

"That doesn't make me happy, Sideswipe."

Sideswipe patted her head. "Just trying to say that you shouldn't worry about getting on her good side. I don't!"

Flashdrive smirked. "And she doesn't seem to like you much... But Da-"

**All Autobots to the Command Center.** Fixit's voice spoke over the speakers. **I think I've found that cybertronian signal again.**

"Well, looks like duty calls." Sideswipe murmured. "Try to stay outta too much trouble, Flash."

Flashdrive sighed as the sports car and dinobot left her alone again. "Okay..."

"The signal is coming from just outside of Crown City. I'm still not able to get a clear reading on them." Fixit reported.

"Could they be airborne, like the Corvicon Brothers?" Strongarm asked.

"Possible...I'll raise the scans, just in case."

Bumblebee nodded. "Right. Let's rev up and roll-"

"What do I do!?" Flashdrive asked, getting up from her place on the ground.

Bumblebee looked at her. "...Right." He stammered. "S-Stay here and help Fixit keep an eye on the signal, okay?"

"But I..." Flashdrive drooped a little. "...Okay, Daddy."

The Lieutenant stiffened, and then shook his head. "J-Just call me Bumblebee...Okay?"

Flashdrive nodded, and then watched the team transform and drive off out of the yard. "...But that's what everybody _else_ calls you..."


	4. Flash Flood of Frustration

Flashdrive scrambled to the top of a stack to look out over the Scrapyard, her optics following Bumblebee and the rest of the team as they left the yard and started down the street, until they turned a corner and were out of sight. "Why don't I get to go!?" She complained. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"It's probably just that they think you're too young," Denny assured, "that's all."

Flashdrive groaned. "But it's so _boring_!"

"You can come help me keep an optic on the scanners!" Fixit suggested. "Just... don't touch anything."

Flashdrive hopped off of the stacks and walked over to the Command Center, taking a seat on the metal hull protruding out of the rock. "Do you think they'll find something?"

"I don't know...It's very peculiar, though. I've tried utilizing the Cybertronian Tech Detector to try to pick up their weapon or something to keep track of them, but it just keeps disappearing out of thin air!" The minicon gave a chuckle. "You know, that reminds me of a story..."

Because of her youth, Flashdrive lasted a little longer than the other bots did when it came to Fixit's long-winded stories, but even she eventually tired of it, and she managed to slip away without his notice. As she wandered the Scrapyard, searching for something to occupy her for the time being, she came across a section quarantined from the rest of the yard. A sign was hung over the entrance, reading **Scrap Metal Pile** in bold letters.

Amongst the piles were what appeared to be statues forged from the scrap metal, some of which were destinctly similar to members of the team, and Grimlock's name was painted on the bases. These were his sculptures...

...And Flashdrive wanted to try.

She stood there for a moment, trying to think about what she might want to make, and then once she had an idea, she rushed forward and started pulling pieces of metal out of the piles and making her own small pile in the center. "Okay...I need to find something for the heads..."  
_

Leaves tumbled across the road as the team drove in single file. The air was cool and breezy, the sky overhead sunny. Perfect conditions for a good drive, but they were on a mission. "You still picking up the signal, Fixit?"

**You're catching up to it, Lieutenant.**

"Great."

"So what kind of things do you think a virocon could bring to the team?" Sideswipe asked.

"Hacking, which she has already demonstrated." Strongarm muttered.

"Are you seriously still on that?"

"She's only half our size and managed to take down the entire team, Sideswipe, including you!"

"I was unprepared!" Sideswipe defended.

"And the rest of us were more or less alone." Drift agreed. "It is highly unlikely that she would attempt to attack all of us at once, even if she was doing it intentionally."

"Still-"

"Let's not focus on Flashdrive for now." Bumblebee replied. "Let's focus on the mission and finding that signal."

**The scanners say you're right on top of them!**

The team pulled to a stop, looking around and listening, but all they heard were birds chirping in the trees. Bumblebee transformed into robot mode, the rest of the team following his example. "Stay alert..." He murmured. "...It could be a trap..."

They moved into the trees slowly, optics surveying their surroundings for any sign of movement in the branches, or in the shadows.

"...Doesn't look like anyone's here." Sideswipe murmured.

"Aww...!" Grimock whined. "I wanted to punch somethin'!"

"Strange..." Bumblebee bent down, examining the footprints in the crushed grass. "...Definitely fresh, though. They were here in the last hour or so."

"Lieutenant, look at this..."  
Bumblebee walked over to where Strongarm was, and found deep claw marks in the trunks of a few trees, and slash marks on the ground from what appeared to be blade of some sort. "Steeljaw...! I'd know his claw marks anywhere...!"

"...Looks like Steeljaw and our mystery bot had a scuffle, but why...?"

"Perhaps the other bot is an Autobot." Drift suggested. "Or a rival of Steeljaw's for control of the planet."

"Maybe... Still, these marks look familiar for some reason..." Bumblebee sighed, then tapped his comm link. "Fixit, are you still getting a reading on that signal?"

**...No, Lieutenant. I've been raising and expanding the scans, but it's like they have a faulty signal dampener that's flipping on and off.**

Bumblebee sighed. "It's alright, Fixit. We'll find them eventually... Is Flashdrive keeping out of trouble?"

**I...think so. She's been collecting random pieces of junk... ****_SCRAP METAL_****, excuse me, Denny Clay.**

Bumblebee chuckled. "What's she collecting metal for?"

**No idea. Maybe...And now she's grabbed a can of paint.**

"Alright. We're heading back to the Scrapyard. Let us know if it comes back."

**Yes, Lieutenant.**

"A signal that randomly pops up and then disappears..." Strongarm muttered. "...Certainly sounds like those Corvicons."

"There's nothing we can do about it right now..."

"Great!" Sideswipe announced. "So now we can head back to the Scrapyard and figure out what Flashdrive is up to."

Bumblebee sighed. "Right, hopefully she's not getting into something she shouldn't..."  
_

Flashdrive stepped back from her creation, giving a grin. "Perfect!" She announced, putting the paintbrush down top of the can. "I wish we had some black paint. It doesn't look like him without the black..."

Her first sculpture was done: Her and Bumblebee holding hands while both looking out at something. The paint wasn't quite dry, but a little time in the sun would fix that. She pushed it out of her corner, letting the light fall on it. "Hey Russell, look what I made!"

Russell looked up from his schoolwork, grinning. "Nice job, Flash!" He replied. "It looks just like you two!"

"You think so!?" Flashdrive squealed excitedly, and then grinned as she heard the rumbling of the returning Autobots. "They're back!"  
She ran up to the clearing, watching the rest of the team roll into the yard.

"Did you find anything?" Russell asked.

"Our mystery bot had a tussle with Steeljaw." Strongarm replied. "But still no sightings or clues as to who they are or what they're doing here."

"Hey Bumblebee!" Flashdrive attempted, but the Lieutenant didn't seem to hear.

"They left some blade markings that seem so familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen them..." Bumblebee murmured. "...Whoever it is, they must be at odds with Steeljaw for them to have gotten into a fight."

"E-Excuse me..." Flashdrive tried again, but was still ignored.

"I'm getting pretty tired of running out there to look for this guy and then them being long gone by the time we get there." Sideswipe muttered.

Flashdrive placed a hand on Bumblebee's leg, and the leader finally turned to look at her, his optics widening. "Flashdrive, you look like you fell in a bottle of mustard!"

Flashdrive looked down at herself, not having realized just how much paint she'd gotten on herself. "Oops... I was painting that!" She pointed to the sculpture. "I made it while you were gone!"

Grimlock gasped and rushed over to it. "It's better than mine!" He announced. "You truly have a taste for art!"

Flashdrive blushed. "I got bored and found your sculptures. I wanted to try it."

"Well if it keeps you out of trouble, I suppose..." Bumblebee mumbled as he overlooked the sculpture briefly before going back to his pondering.

Flashdrive's smile faded as she felt like a deflated balloon. _He hardly looked at it..._  
"I like it..." She murmured.

"Okay. You'd better go clean up and get that paint off of you."

Flashdrive nodded. "Okay..." She wandered off from the Command Center.

"He's just busy, Flashdrive." Russell assured, but the little virocon didn't even look this direction. "...Oh boy." He got up from his make-shift desk and walked over. "Hey Bee?"

"What is it, Russell?"

"I _really_ think you should talk to Flashdrive. She seems a little upset."

Bumblebee gave a nod. "I'll do it when I can."

Though Russell received the nod, he wasn't sure that the Lieutenant was really listening to him, either. He understood that Bumblebee was busy with the mystery bot, but them, mixed with Flashdrive and her mysterious arrival made a terrible combination. Something needed to be done, and soon.  
He snapped his fingers as an idea came to mind. "Hey Drift? Can you deploy Jetstorm and Slipstream? I need their help with something."

Drift gave a solemn nod, and the two other minicons uncurled from their buzzsaw forms and into robot mode. "How may we assist you, Russell?" Slipstream asked with a bow.

"Follow me." Russell led them back behind one of the stacks. "Listen, I need you two to talk to Flashdrive."

"About what?"

"She feels ignored and unappreciated. You two know what that's like. Maybe you can help her out by letting her know she's not alone."

"Umm..." Jetstorm wrung his hands. "...Does it _have_ to be us...?"

Russell crossed his arms. "Don't tell me you're _afraid_ of her."

"Afraid? Never!" Slipstream announced. "We fear nothing!"

"Except maybe Master Drift." Jetstorm admitted.

"Come on, Guys. Man up, or whatever the cybertronian equivalent is!"

"He's right." Slipstream replied. "We must do this... But after she's done getting clean. We don't want to interrupt her."

Russell sighed. "Fine. But I'm holding you two to it, alright?"

"Right."

They waited a few minutes, until Flashdrive came back out, clean of paint, but still dripping with water from the hose. "Flashdrive." Slipstream called, catching the virocon's attention as she walked by.

She turned to face them. "Hi..." She mumbled.

"Flashdrive, we just wanted to say that...That we know how you feel."

"You...Do?"

"It's true." Jetstorm replied. "We too feel ignored and unappreciated by Master Drift. You're not the only one."

Flashdrive sighed, plopping down on top of a crate. "It's not the _same_, though... Drift is grumpy to everybody, Bumblebee isn't..."

"We just want to help." Slipstream admitted.

"I know...But it's not helping...Just like_ I'm_ not helping..."

She walked off, and the minicons turned to Russell as he came out of hiding. "We tried." They replied.

"I know...Maybe she just needs a little bit..."


	5. The Final Straw

"Watch the stacks, guys!"

Flashdrive sat on the front of the Command Center, watching the other bots and humans hurrying back and forth with boxes and crates. "Denny, why do you keep buying stuff when you have nowhere to put it?"

"I will find somewhere to put it!" Denny replied.

"She has a point, Dad." Russell expressed. "You never sell anything, or give anything away."

"Steeljaw blew up half of my stuff that day! It means that I have to replace it."

"Right..."

Flashdrive didn't know much about Steeljaw, only that nobody she knew liked him. But if he'd attacked the yard, then he must not be a good guy.

"Can I help you?" She asked. "Lots of servos make bright work."

"It's 'Many hands make _light_ work,' Flash." Russell replied. "But I'm sure we can find something for you to do."

Flashdrive ignored the uncertain expressions on Strongarm and Denny's faces, hopping off of her seat and following Russell across the yard. "What can I do?"

"Just take these crates and move them over to that group over there. Simple."

Flashdrive nodded, and immediately chose a crate to start with. She placed herself against the side, pushing with her hands. She grimaced as she pushed harder and harder, finally getting it to move forward a little bit.

"Uh...You sure you don't want help, Flashdrive?"

"I've got it...!" Flashdrive hissed. She wasn't going to be a bother today. Today, she was helping. She moved the crate a few more inches before suddenly it moved and she fell forward. "OOF! Hey!"  
She looked up at the crate, which was now in Strongarm's hands. "I was moving it!"

"Not fast enough."

"Oh come on!" Sideswipe complained as he came over to the pair. "She had it, Strongarm!"

"Yeah, and it was going to take all afternoon for her to move one crate!"

"You could have at least grabbed another one! She just wants to help."

"Well then." Strongarm shoved the crate into Sideswipe's arms. "Why don't you set a good example to her and help out too...!?"

"Perfectionist!"

"Punk!"

Flashdrive watched the pair get into another argument for a few moments, and then went to start pushing another crate across the clearing. She got it a few more steps before something fell out of it and rolled across the yard. "Oops!"  
She hurried over to collect the object, a small metal disc that Russell had called a compass when she'd first arrived. As she checked to make sure the glass cover hadn't cracked, she heard loud footsteps and turned just in time to see Grimlock trip over the unsupervised crate she'd just been moving. "Oh no!"  
Grimlock attempted to catch his footing, but was getting dangerously close to stepping on Russell. "Russell!"

"Whoa, look out!" Denny snatched his son out of the way as Grimlock came crashing to the ground. "You okay, Son?"

"Yeah...Yeah..." Russell stammered.

"I-I'm sorry, Grimlock!" Flashdrive whimpered. "I was gonna move that in a second, and then I-"

"I'm alright..." Grimlock replied as he got back up onto his feet. "No harm done...Well, except for maybe to the crate..."

Flashdrive looked at the half-crushed crate, and then rushed over to investigate the contents. Fortunately, nothing on the inside looked damaged. "I just...I didn't mean to-"  
She backed away as Denny shooed her a little. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, Flashdrive. Just let the grownups do this for now, okay?"

Flashdrive nodded. "O-Okay..."

Denny handed her the scanner he was holding. "Could you hold this for me? Just be careful with it."

The little virocon watched as Denny picked up the broken pieces of wood, occasionally asking Russell if he was okay, which the teenager was getting irritated about.

Flashdrive's hands trembled as her chassis shook. "I made Strongarm and Sideswipe argue, and I made Grimlock trip and nearly smoosh Russell! I... I'm a menace!"  
A loud cracking sound and the scanner in her hands shrinking made her look down, and she gasped as she found she'd partially bent the scanner, cracks now covering the screen and the sparks flying from the top. "Oh no...!" She whimpered.

"FLASHDRIVE!"  
The virocon trembled as Bumblebee's voice shouted. Her optics were wide as she looked up at his face. "We _told_ you to be careful!"

"I-I'm sorry...!" She whimpered. "I-I didn't mean to! I SWEAR!"  
She carefully laid it down on the ground, backing away from it as Bumblebee picked it up.

Bumblebee sighed. "We don't have an unlimited supply of tools. Hopefully we can still repair it."

"I-I can help fix it! J-Just tell me what parts to find! I can-"

"No." Bumblebee shook his head. "You've helped enough for today. Just...Go play with your ball or something."

Flashdrive's optics welled up with tears, and she took off across the clearing.

"It..._Was_ an accident." Sideswipe murmured cautiously.

"I...I just don't know what to do with her..." Bumblebee murmured.

"Maybe Russell's right. Maybe you should talk to her, get to know her a little bit."

"Yeah...Maybe...But after-"

"Lieutenant..." Fixit murmured. "...It's back."

"The signal?"

"Yes, sir. This time in Crown City."

Bumblebee groaned. "Now they're just getting on my nerves...We'd better actually _find_ something this time. Let's Rev Up and Roll Out!"

The team transformed and then took off for the entrance to the Scrapyard, not wanting to waste any time getting to their quarry.

Fixit paused as he heard a soft sob, coming from behind him. "Flashdrive, I'm sure he-!"  
He broke off with a sharp gasp as one of her tentacles struck him in the back of the helm, connecting instantly. "F-Flash...!" He stammered. His systems were seizing, until he finally relaxed, knowing that resisting her was futile. Then he could see images flashing by his optics, his own voice chattering incomprehensably to accompany the images. It was like watching someone else flip through the pages of a magazine and trying to read the pages as they flew by.  
She finally disconnected from his processor, and he fell backwards onto the floor with a cry as it felt like something snapped out of place, or back_ into_ place, he wasn't sure.

The last thing he heard was Flashdrive's voice, cracking as she fought back sobs.

_I'm sorry, Fixit...!_

He was tired, but he couldn't just give up. He'd been on the trail for what seemed like forever, and he'd nearly had her back in the woods.

_Caution: Energon levels near-critical. Suggesting stasis to preserve energy._

He ignored the warning. "A little hunger never killed a bot...!" He hissed. He had to do this. If he didn't...He could never go home.

His mind went back to that day...No, that _moment_. '_We don't tolerate bots who question our motives_,' they'd said, '_Especially cowardly decepticons like you..._'

Perhaps he'd been a coward then, but not now. Not when he was so close to bringing her in and gaining sanctuary once more. He knew where energon mines were on this planet, but with no tools to refine it, it was practically useless to him. He might be starving, tired and in need of some good high grade, but he refused to quit, not when he was this close...

He could take her in, possibly get a few cubes of energon in exchange from a trader... He didn't want to go back to Cybertron and get knocked down by those jerks of a High Council anyway...

...That's what he told himself, anyway. If he was being truly honest, he just wanted to be treated like any other bot, as a bot trying to forge a new life, not as a Decepticon traitor who ran to the Autobots for sanctuary after their loss in the war.

He broke free of the trees, his prize sitting on the metal structure of an unfinished building. This was the worst possible place for them to be, out in the open where any human could see them, but he had no choice.  
"I don't want to hurt you..." He murmured. "...Please, just come back with me."

The femme grinned. "Why on Cybertron would I want to do that, _deserter_?"

"This isn't the place for a bot. Having to hide all the time... You could be free back on Cybertron."

"Free? They'll lock me up! You and I both know that we'll never be accepted by _proper_ Cybertronian society." She smirked. "...Besides, you have bigger problems."

He hadn't any time to ponder what she meant when claws dug into his back. "AHH!" He stumbled away from his attacker, whipping around to face them.

A pair of glowing, yellow optics peered out of the shadows, now accompanied in their glowing by the energon on their clawed hands. "Hello again, Doctor... You don't seem to be taking good care of yourself."

"You again...!"

"Yes..." The wolf-bot stepped out into the light. "Shall we continue our little game?"

The bot's optics narrowed, and his hands transformed into saw blades. "...Are you ready for your physical...!?"


	6. Past and Present Collide

"Please still be there, please still be there, please still be there...!" Sideswipe hissed to himself as they navigated the streets of Crown City. "I want contact!"

"And I want somethin' to punch!" Grimlock added.

"Shh...!" Bumblebee murmured, "Not so loud...We're in a populated area, remember?"

The team paused as they heard shouts from a construction yard. "Contact!" Bumblebee hissed. "_Finally_...!"  
They pulled over into the cover of some trees, transforming to robot mode to get a look at their mystery bot.

It was a femme, black with green markings and her face plate plastered with an excited expression from the heights of the metal structure already built, as she watched a familiar wolf-bot and third individual fight below.

Bumblebee smacked his forehead as he recognized the bot Steeljaw was fighting. "I should've recognized Knockout's sawblades from a clik away...!"

The former Decepticon medic was already bleeding energon from deep clawmarks across his body and face, and Steeljaw had a few cuts from the blades as well, but he had the sports car pinned down and it was clear that Knockout had taken the majority of the hits.

"You're _weak_, doc...!" Steeljaw hissed, "...It's no wonder you decided to whimper out and join the Autobots."

Knockout spat energon from his mouth at the wolf-bot, making him growl as it landed on his muzzle. "At least I'm not on the way to being put in the ice box, you mutt...!"

"Aww!" the femme giggled, "Two mechs fighting over a pretty lady...!"

"Oversight. _Brilliant_." Bumblebee mumbled, "No _wonder_ we couldn't identify her...!"

"You're familiar with this bot." Drift assumed.

"Yes...She used to be one of us, until she got hit in the helm during the war and it knocked a few screws loose. She's a rogue bot now. Not Autobot, not Decepticon. Helping nobody, pestering _everybody_. Nobody's been able to catch her, or else someone would certainly have fixed her by now."

Bumblebee nodded as he looked back at the fight. "We just need to wait for an opening and then-"  
He was interrupted by Oversight giving an excited gasp as her optics met his. "Scrap."

"Well look who it is! Hello, Bubblebeam!"

"Scatter." Bumblebee informed, the team breaking off as the femme bot dashed towards them. Bumblebee dodged a punch by her and knocked her aside. "Oversight." He replied. "Always nice to see a familiar face. And it's _Bumblebee_."

"You _remember_ me!" Oversight flipped back up onto her feet. "How delightful! It'll make your pounding that much more satisfying...!"

Steeljaw chuckled, turning back to Knockout. "Called in reinforcements, did you...?"  
Knockout opened his mouth to respond, and then gave a pained yelp as Steeljaw stabbed him with something, his entire body stiffening up with his optics shut tightly in pain.

"No!" Bumblebee shouted.

"I see you've got your hands full, Bumblebee...As do I."

"Oh, you're not getting away that easy!" Sideswipe replied, transforming as well and taking off after Steeljaw down the street.

"Drift, go help Sideswipe!" Bumblebee ordered, and the samurai transformed and left as well.

"_That_ was _Sideswipe_?" Oversight asked, grinning. "Boy, did_ he_ get a makeover. Look at that chassis...Rrrrowwww...!"

Bumblebee pulled out his Decepticon Hunter and formed a blade that met with Oversight's twin rifles and sliced them into pieces. "Come quietly, Oversight. We can_ help_ you."

"I don't need help, Bumblebee..." Oversight giggled. "...I like being able to do whatever I want! Why get fixed when you like yourself the way you are?"

"That's not the point, Oversight."  
Bumblebee stumbled back as she kicked him in the gut. "You're injured! You _know_ you're not right!"

Oversight sighed, and then flipped out of the way as Strongarm fired at her and then tossed a dagger at the cadet. Strongarm dodged, but it still scraped at her chassis as it flew by. "You soldiers never let me have my fun...And I'm not broken!"

"Your fun, as you call it, hurts others!" Strongarm informed.

Oversight hopped up onto the framework. "But I thought you Autobots _liked_ hurting people! Why else would this fight between you and the Cons continue to persist?"

"Why you-!"

"Don't bother. She won't listen to you." Bumblebee murmured. "She was stubborn even _before_ she hit her head."

Oversight giggled. "You think you know me, Bubblebee...! My mind has been _opened_...! You and the Cons aren't so different...And I can't follow either of ya. What the- HEY!" She shouted as Grimlock shook the framework and knocked her to the ground. "Ow! Why you little-"  
She struggled as Bumblebee cuffed her hands. "Killjoy...!"

"Nicely done, Grim." Bumblebee replied. "I see those tiptoeing lessons you're taking are paying off."

"You really think so!?" Grimlock asked.

"Grimlock!?" Oversight looked up at the dinobot, "Aren't you supposed to be _dead_?"

"What are you talking about?" Strongarm asked.

"Like I said, she's got a few screws loose." Bumblebee murmured.

"I'm not _that_ insane!" Oversight complained as Strongarm pulled her up to her feet, giving a smirk and narrowed eyes in Bumblebee's direction. "You _know_ what I'm talking about! You cried about it for almost a cycle..."

"I did no such thing, because it didn't happen."

"_Sure_ it didn't...!" Oversight smirked. "You just don't want to admit that you know secrets about your friends here that they _don't_ know!"

"Is that true, Lieutenant?" Strongarm asked.

"Ooh, distrust amongst the ranks. _That_ sounds familiar."

Bumblebee groaned. "We'll discuss this later."

**We lost him, Bee.** Sideswipe replied through the comms. **And we have no idea what he did to Knockout.**

"Don't worry about it, we'll have other chances." He tightened his grip on Oversight's cuffs as she struggled to get away.

"We always do..." Strongarm muttered.

Bumblebee applied a vocal inhibitor to Oversight's faceplate. "Just until we get you back to the Scrapyard and in a stasis cell." He assured.

Oversight glared, her optics staring into his like lasers. He finally looked away, unable to keep eye contact with her. "Grim, keep her on the trailer."

"You got it, Bee!" Grimlock replied, taking the fugitive bot away.

"Lieutenant..." Strongarm placed a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. "How well do you know her?"

"She and I trained together as new recruits. She was a friend..."

"...Is what she said true? Are you keeping things from us?"

"If I am, it's for your own good."

"That's not answering my question."

Bumblebee shook his head. "We'll discuss it later, I promise."

Strongarm locked gazes with him for a moment longer, and then went to assist Grimlock in securing Oversight on the trailer.

Bumblebee walked over to Knockout as the medic gave a pained moan. "Knockout, can you hear me?"

Knockout managed to give a faint whimper, and Bumblebee pulled the stiff bot up and carried him over to the trailer. Keeping the medic and lunatic separate, he strapped Knockout down to it gently. "We're going to get you help, Knockout. I swear."  
He then tapped his comm unit. "Fixit, we've secured the fugitive and have a bot down. Prepare to Groundbridge us back." The lieutenant paused as he got no response from the minicon. "...Fixit? Fixit, come in!"

Grimlock and Strongarm turned to look at him as Sideswipe and Drift pulled back into the lot. "Lieutenant?"

"...Metal to the Pedal, Team. Something's wrong."


	7. What Have I Done?

Russell was the first to notice. The new teenager was wandering towards the Command Center, his gaze on the papers stapled together in his hands. "Okay, so I'm not asking you to help me _cheat_, Fixit, I just thought that maybe since you're a super smart robot from another planet, you might be able to help me understand my Math home..." He looked up, dropping the papers. "FIXIT!"

The minicon's head leaned back against the console, his optics closed and body limp. Russell ran over and shook the minicon a little in case he was just asleep, as his expression did not appear to be one of pain, but Fixit didn't respond. "C-Come on, Fixit, wake up! DAD!"

"What's the matter, Son?" Denny called.

"FIXIT'S UNCONSCIOUS!"

That caught the collector's attention, and he was running up the ramp and towards Russell as the teen laid Fixit down on the floor. "What happened!?"

"I don't know!" Russell admitted, his eyebrows furrowing with concern as Fixit gave a faint moan. "Wait...Where's Flashdrive?"

"Flashdrive!?" Denny called, but there was no response. "...This is bad. I-I'll go look for her, you stay with Fixit in case he wakes up."

Denny hurried off into the yard, disappearing into the stacks.

Russell turned back to Fixit, shaking him a little bit more. "Come on, Fixit...!" He hissed.

The sound of wheels throwing gravel made him look up, and he saw the rest of the team enter the clearing, with Grimlock holding a struggling newcomer on his trailer and a second red bot also strapped to the trailer, though unconscious.

"Guys! Fixit's down and won't respond!"

"We gathered _that_ much from him not responding to our calls." Bumblebee replied, "What happened?"

"I don't know! I was gonna ask him for help with my school, but then I found him like _this_!"

"Alright. Don't panic." Bumblebee looked around, "Where's Flashdrive?"

"My Dad's looking for her. She's probably working on another sculpture."

"Sculpture?"

"Yeah, she made that metal sculpture the other day." Russell's eyebrows furrowed, "Didn't you see it when she was showing it off?"

Bumblebee didn't answer, instead turning towards the bot Grimlock was still holding. "We need to get Oversight in a stasis pod."  
The lieutenant transformed into bot mode. "And to have Fixit look at Knockout here..."

Oversight glared at Bumblebee as he removed the audio inhibitor from her faceplate. "This is for your own good."

"Is it...?" Oversight grinned. "Or is it for your _convenience_...!? You don't want to remember, you don't even tell war stories because you're afraid you'll accidentally expose yourself! You're a vault of secrets...!"

"Come along, Oversight..." Drift murmured as he took the femme bot away.

A moan from the downed minicon and his optics fluttering open caught their attention again.  
"Fixit?"

The minicon lifted his helm from the console. "Ugh...Where is she...?" He mumbled.

"Who?" Sideswipe asked. "Who did this?"

"Flashdrive...Ambush..."

"I should've known that little troublemaker was behind it!" Strongarm hissed. "I'll bet she's been planning this all-"

Bumblebee held a hand up, interrupting the cadet. "What happened, Fixit?"

"She was here...And then her tendrils got me... She was crying, and she...She said she was sorry." He groaned as Russell pulled him back up onto his wheels, rolling over to the console, his optics widening. "_That's_ why...The Groundbridge was activated between now and my last scan."

"She took the information on how to use the Groundbridge from you." Drift murmured, "And then used that information to activate the Groundbridge and leave."

"It appears so..."

Bumblebee brought his fingers to his sinuses, rubbing his optics with a hard sigh. "She ran away... Can you find her, Fixit?"

"...She's out of current range. I'll try broadening it..."

"What do we do with her once she's been apprehended, sir?"

Bumblebee paused from rubbing his optics, turning towards the cadet. "..._What_?"

"I said, 'what do we do with-'"

"I know what you said, Strongarm... But it's the way you said it. '_Apprehend_?' That's a term we use when we're trying to find an escaped prisoner, not our own teammates."

"Yeah!" Sideswipe replied. "Flash isn't a 'Con!"

"She hurt Fixit to forcably get the information she needed, isn't that proof that she's dangerous!?" Strongarm replied.

"Primus, would you stop being so hard on her!?" Sideswipe shouted. "I know she has the potential to be dangerous, but she's just a kid!"

"A kid who has no restraint or concept of personal space. She's constantly invading privacy, bypassing boundries and hacking our own minds for whatever information she wants."

"It's no wonder she left! All you've ever done is degrade her like the common criminal! She didn't know that absorbing our knowledge would hurt us, or that she was invading personal space in the process! She just wanted to_ understand_...!"

"But this time, she was well _aware_ that she was hurting him, and she did it on_ purpose_!"

"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTHS FOR A SECOND!?"  
They all turned to Russell, who suddenly felt very embarrassed for his outburst, now that all of the significantly larger lifeforms had their optics on him. He cleared his throat. "S-She left something behind."

He held up a large, folded piece of paper, which Bumblebee took and unfolded. His optics widened as he read the cybertronian language, and then he placed it down on the console, his chassis trembling. "Scrap...It's all my fault...!" He hissed.

"What do you mean?" Denny asked as Bumblebee walked away.

"All this time, I wasn't...I didn't mean to..." The Lieutenant's optics stared at the ground, his mind obviously in some other place. "...I'm not a...I don't know how..."

Sideswipe took the paper and read it aloud. "_You only want bots who can do something for you. I can't. You don't need me, so I'm leaving_." He turned to his leader. "We can fix this, Bee."

Bumblebee didn't respond for several seconds, and then slammed a fist on a stack of already crushed cars. "How could I have been so _oblivious_...!?"

"Don't blame yourself, Bee!" Grimlock replied. "We just have to find her!"

Bumblebee turned towards them a little. "Fixit...Do you still have the coordinates she jumped to?"

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"Good...Activate the Groundbridge."

"At once, Lieutenant."

"The Groundbridge will dump us out at the same coordinates."

"No...The groundbridge will dump _me_ out at the same coordinates... I need to do this alone."  
Bumblebee turned to Fixit again. "Fixit, while I'm gone, I want you to do what you can to help Knockout here."

"Understood, Lieutenant." Fixit replied, looking up for a brief moment to them before pressing a button. "Groundbridge activating."

The portal opened, and Bumblebee motioned for the others to stay put one more time before running through the swirling colors. It was there for only a moment, then it was replaced by a darkness and sloped ground that he almost immediately fell down. He dug his heels into the dirt until he came to a stop, and then looked around.  
The moon was but a sliver, not providing much light, but he could see a town in the valley below the rocky mountain he was on, and beyond that, a military installation.

"...Scrud...!" He whispered. "Primus help me if she decided to go down _there_...!"  
He took a seat on the slope, putting his head into his hands. "...If I'd spent more time with her, I'd know where she'd go, or what she'd do! But I don't..._No_." He got up onto his feet. "Stop moping and just get moving. She doesn't have a vehicle mode, so she's probably somewhere humans can't see her... I hope..."


	8. An Old Friend

**...See anything?**

"None. Pretty quiet in town, especially for a Saturday night."

**I could use a coffee, what about you guys...?**

**Same here, but we're still on duty.**

The man fiddled with a rubber band as he sat parked on the curb, weaving it between his fingers absentmindedly as he spoke to his teammates over their comm systems. When he'd signed up for this gig, he'd been expecting more excitement.  
"...Well, nothing interesting out here tonight. What do you say we hit the sack?"

**You can go crash if you want to, Chip, but I'm still gonna be scouting for scumbags.**

**Since when are we using our codenames over the radio, 'APEX?'**

**You never know who might be listening! I still can't believe they gave you the codename 'Darbus Prime...!'**

**I held Vector Sigma's Key for a few days. I guess it counts.**

The driver rolled his eyes. "Miko, we've been out almost all night. If there was going to be anything out there, I think we'd have-"  
He paused as his screen lit up and a beeping came from the monitor. "...What the..."

**What is it, Raf?**

Rafael adjusted his glasses as he stared at the screen. "...I'm picking up a cybertronian signal on my scanner."

**Cybertronian!? Is it BULK!?**

"I don't know. It's out in the desert, about three miles west of your position."

**We'll look into it. We're still Unit E. Recon only.**

"Good idea... Be careful, Jack."

**Always, Raf...**

Raf leaned back in his seat as the call was ended. He gave a yawn, considering just curling up in his car and sleeping right there. No, his house was only a few blocks away, he could make it. He put the car in drive and started down the street. He'd only gone a few houses down, however when he saw something run across the road ahead of him from one alley to another...

...Something big, mechanical and bepedal.

Raf shook any sleep from his head, looking down at his scanner. It showed no other signals than the one Jack and Miko were investigating, he might've just imagined it from his exhaustion.

He wasn't about to risk losing it if it wasn't.  
He turned onto the street, turning out his lights and rolling down his window to listen as he slowly moved along the street, searching for a sign of what he'd seen. His eyes narrowed as he saw it rush by again, this time jumping over a fence from a backyard as a dog began barking. It paused in the street for a moment, and then took off down the street. Raf pulled around the corner, hoping it would maintain it's straight course. He went around the block, and as he came back to the street, he saw the bot come right up to his car, and their eyes met.

It was small, half the size of the other bots he'd seen, and she was obviously frightened, as she backed away from him and took off again.

"Hey, wait a second!" Raf called, but he saw her disappear behind an old car shop and not reappear on the other side. He turned off his car and started towards it on foot, hoping it would reduce her fear of him. He crept around to the corner, peeking around it and seeing her huddled up against on old car parked outside of the shop. "It's okay..." He whispered.

Glowing blue optics stared back at him, wide with fear, and they didn't move an inch. "Hey..." He whispered. "...You're alright..."

He reached a hand towards them and they moved further away, giving a whimper. "It's okay, it's okay..." He soothed. He slowly moved down onto his hands and knees. "...I'm not going to hurt you...I promise...Are you lost?"

He pulled out his flashlight, shining onto the little bot. With the light, he could see her armored plating was teal in color. "Hey...You can trust me. I'm one of the good guys...My name is Rafael."

The bot's eyes flickered with faint recognition. "...Rafael..." She mumbled, as if testing out the name on her lips.

"Yes... Rafael." He moved a little closer. "I'm a friend of Optimus Prime. Do you know him?" The bot shook her head, though it seemed that she was relaxing and becoming less fearful. "Hmm...What about Arcee?...Bulkhead?..." He hesitated a moment. "...What about Bumblebee?"

The bot's eyes widened. "Bumblebee...!" She whispered.

Raf smiled. "Yes, Bumblebee... You know him?"  
She nodded, though pulling her knees up to her chin and looking sad. "...What's the matter?" He asked. Talking about Bumblebee made her sad, but why? He hoped nothing had happened to his former guardian. "...Is he okay?"

The bot looked up to him again. "...He's mad at me... I ran away..." She whimpered, and Raf saw tears welling up in her optics. He'd never seen any of the bots cry before, and she wasn't acting like she was much older than a young child. Was she a new bot that was born after the war?

"I see..." He managed to get up onto his feet and come within a few feet of the bot. "...What's your name?"  
She looked away from him. "Too soon, okay."

He took a seat against the wall. "...I'm sure Bumblebee will forgive you."

She sniffled. "...I wanna go home...But I don't know how...!" She started to cry, and Raf took the moment to place a hand on her arm.

"Hey...It'll be okay...I'll keep you safe until we can get you home, okay?"

"...Promise...?"

"I promise..."

The little bot gave a sniff, and then wiped the tears from her eyes. "...Flashdrive."

"Hmm?"

"My name is Flashdrive..."

* * *

"What is taking the lieutenant so long...?"

"Stop your griping, Strongarm. He's only been gone an hour."

"Which is plenty of time for something to happen to him!"

"He's Bumblebee, for Primus' sake! He can handle himself."

"Would you two give it a rest, please? I'm trying to work."  
The bots all turned as Fixit muttered to the pair. "How am I supposed to get anything done around here?..._What_?" He asked as they all stared in shock, "What are you all _staring_ at?"

"Your hands..." Grimlock muttered.

Fixit looked down at his hands, his optics widening as he realized they'd transformed into laser rifles. He quickly transformed them back into his hands. "I'm fixed?...I'm fixed!"

"But... _how_?" Strongarm asked.

"Flashdrive must've repaired the damage when she extracted the information from his processor." Drift replied. "Perhaps she is more _useful_ than we first suspected..."

Strongarm crossed her arms with a huff. "I'm _still_ keeping an eye on her..."

They all turned as they heard a buzzing coming from the console. "An incoming message from Cybertron." Fixit informed.

"I hope everything's okay." Denny murmured.

The signal was fuzzy for a brief moment, and then the voice came through clearly. **Cybertronian Command to Bumblebee, do you copy?**

"We hear you, Ratchet!" Russell called. "How are you?"

**I am fine, Russell... Is Bumblebee available?**

"The lieutenant is... On a solo mission." Strongarm replied. "But he should be back soon."

**I see... Well when he returns, have him contact me. I have something very important I need to speak to him about.**

"Yes sir." Strongarm replied.

"I wonder what it is..." Russell murmured.

"I hope it's got something to do with us getting to reveal ourselves to the humans!" Sideswipe squealed. "That would be awesome!"

"Don't get your circuits in a bunch, Sideswipe." Fixit warned. "It could very well be a new threat to Earth."

"You're right...I hope you're wrong, though." He turned to their patient. "Any progress on Knockout?"

"No...I've managed to stabilize his circuits, but I can't find the right means for an antivirus." The bot in question moaned softly from his place on the medical table, his body still stiff in that agonizing position. "Whatever Steeljaw hit him with is a very sophisticated virus."

"And he still has it." Drift muttered. "Which means he may still be able to use it on other cybertronians."

"We'd better keep on our guard when we go out on patrol." Strongarm replied. "We don't wanna be jumped."

"Let us just hope that Bumblebee can return before Steeljaw uses it...for whatever nefarious scheme he has planned..."


	9. Delays

Bumblebee moved across the landscape slowly, the ground bumpier than he'd been expecting and leaving him at a slower pace than he would have wanted. He hoped he found a road in the dark soon so he could increase his speed and find his daughter faster.

How could he have been so stupid? How could he be so clueless? He sighed as he moved along. "I have a lot of apologizing to do when I find her...I just hope she's alright."

His attention was caught by the bumps suddenly vanished almost completely, and he found himself on a road. "Finally..." he murmured as he turned and started down it, towards the town. "She's gotta be out here somewhere..."

He'd gone a few miles when all of a sudden headlights came at him from ahead in the wrong lane, their brights shining in the autobot's optics and blinding him. "AAH!"  
He swerved to avoid them, but wasn't able to get out of the way before it rammed into the back side of him. His tires screeched as they left the asphalt and he slid down a steep slope into a deep ditch.  
The hit had stunned him, and when his systems came back on, he was lying on his side in the ditch. It was fortunate that he had no passengers, or else they would've been hurt. The car who'd rammed him was nowhere in sight, and the revving of an engine told him that they were driving off into the distance. A _hit and run_, the humans called it.

Bumblebee moaned in pain, attempting to get onto his wheels again, but unable to, due to the slope of the ditch. He went still again as he heard another car pull up on the road above him.

There were car doors being slammed, and then footsteps coming up to the top of the slope.

"You okay!?" A voice called.  
Bumblebee didn't answer, but he heard one of them sliding down the hill to him. "Come on Bee, snap out of it...!"

Bumblebee stiffened up a little, then saw the woman come up to the front, where his headlights could light up her appearance. Long black hair with streaks of pink through it and a familiar face. "...Miko...?" He whispered.

"Hey." Miko greeted. "What happened?"

"Ugh...Got blindsided by some idiot...They're gone."

"_Obviously_...Can you transform? Nobody else is here."  
The woman backed up as Bumblebee transformed into robot mode, grimacing as she saw the deep dent in his left thigh. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah...I've dealt with worse..." Bumblebee murmured as he limped a few steps.

"At least you're a friendly, Bumblebee."

Bumblebee looked up and saw another familiar face on the hillside. "Jack...I think _your_ version of 'nobody is here' and _mine_ are different, Miko."

"Well I meant nobody that doesn't already know."

"I knew what you meant..." Bumblebee limped up onto the road. "W-What're you two doing here?"

"We picked up a cybertronian signal and came to investigate." Miko replied, and then leaned forward with a smirk and narrowed eyes. "What're _you_ doing here...?"

Bumblebee sighed. "It's a long story... But I'm here looking for one of my own."

"What happened?"

"...I made a mistake. Hopefully I'm not too late to fix it... Have you seen another bot?"

"No. We only picked up one signal on our scanner."

"Yeah...That would be because she isn't marked yet. She's only a few days old."

"Get out!" Miko exclaimed with a grin. "We're looking for a baby autobot!?"

"Yes..." Bumblebee grimaced again, and then transformed into vehicle mode again. "I have to find her..."

"You're hurt!" Jack exclaimed. "Let's at least get you patched up first."

Bumblebee looked out over the dark desert, and then gave a hard sigh. "...Okay..." He hoped Flashdrive could last that long...

* * *

"What're you doing, Sir?"

"Putting the ship in park."

"Why?"

"Because we don't have clearance yet."

"Why?"

The pilot groaned, resting his head down on the console. "...You're a very inquisitive sparklet, you know that?"

He turned his head to look at the bot sitting in the co-pilot's seat, her hands folded in her lap. Her head tilted to one side as she looked back at him, and her eyebrows furrowed. "Questions help you learn things."

"I know that, Starstrike. I just mean that you ask a lot of questions I don't know how to answer..."  
Why did the Council assign him a Learner, of all people? Not that he was against it. He was all for new things, but he felt too young to take a newly-sparked bot under his wing to learn from him.

Starstrike squirmed in her seat. "...How much longer until we do have clearance, Sir?"

"I don't know...Just be patient."

Starstrike was quiet for a moment, swinging her legs back and forth. "...Thank you for bringing me with you."

"You're welcome, Star...It'll be an educational experience for both of us."

"You've never been to Earth either?"

"No...At least...Not recently..." His head lowered as he tried to access those distant memories... The ones that weren't really his, but someone else's.  
A buzz caught his attention, and he looked up to the screen as it lit up. "Councilman Ratchet, Sir."

**Relax, Kid.** Ratchet assured. **Though I hear 'Old Man' more often now...**

"Have you gotten in contact with Lieutenant Bumblebee's team yet?"

**Not exactly. I made contact, but Bumblebee was off on a mission. Did you reach the Sol System safely?**

"We did." He turned to Starstrike. "With a lot of questions along the way."

Ratchet chuckled. **Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually. I really appreciate you agreeing to participate in the program.**

"All the other officers seemed to be pre-war vets, I figured I should show some initiative for the younger generation."

**And you've done well these past few months...Where are you now?**

"On the other side of their largest planet in the system...Jupiter, I think?"

**Correct. Maintain your position and avoid sight of Earth Probes until I can alert Bumblebee of your incoming arrival. And Kid?**

"Yes sir?"

**...Try not to make matters worse.**

The pilot sighed. "Yes Sir..."

"What does he mean by that?" Starstrike asked as Ratchet's face disappeared.

"Oh...Me and some of his team just have a history, that's all."

"Good or bad?"

"...Depends on how you look at it."

* * *

"Shh..." Raf whispered as he opened the garage door. "...You'll be sleeping in here."

"Why?" Flashdrive asked. "Do you live here?"

"Well not exactly. I stay here pretty often, but it's actually my-"

Both of them turned as the door to the rest of the house opened and a woman appeared in the doorway. "Why did you come in through the- Holy!" She immediately slapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. "...You brought one _home_...!?" She squeaked.

"Shh..." Raf whispered as he stepped between Flashdrive and the woman. "Just for tonight, Pilar."

Pilar sighed, shaking her head. "My little brother, not only a government agent, but bringing home illegal aliens..."

Raf grinned. It had been a few years since his older sister had discovered the truth about where he went all those afternoons, how he knew so much about cars, and where'd he gone after Jasper had been evacuated due to some strange anomaly that turned out to be an alien invasion. Since then, she'd helped him hide the truth from their overprotective parents, and when he was old enough, he'd moved out and her task had been a whole lot easier. He'd crash at her place on occasion, but this was the first time he'd brought one of the aliens home with him.

"She won't be any trouble, I promise." Raf looked to Flashdrive, who was already settling herself down in the corner. "We'll get to work getting her home in the morning. She'll be safe here for tonight."

"Rafael... Fine. But I don't wanna come out here to a mess tomorrow, okay?"

Flashdrive nodded. "Okay..."

"Good."

Raf unfolded a blanket and then draped it over the little bot. "Try to sleep, okay? I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay..." Flashdrive smiled a little, and Raf followed his sister into the rest of the house.

"She's smaller than I imagined." Pilar murmured.

"That's because she's a baby. I found her wandering the streets earlier and managed to get her to trust me...She says she knows Bumblebee."

"The one you were partnered with back in Jasper?"

"Yup. That must mean that he's here on Earth again, but why?...And why didn't he tell me...?"

"You going to find him tomorrow?"

"Hopefully...I need to get Flashdrive to trust me enough to tell me where she was before she got here... But tonight, I need sleep. It's late."

Pilar turned out the kitchen light. "I'll grab you a blanket. You really need to get your own place one of these days instead of crashing at mine."

"Yeah...We'll see."

Pilar chuckled and then walked down the hall towards the closet in search of a spare blanket.

Raf took a seat on the couch with a sigh. Bots were back on Earth...He hoped the war hadn't returned to haunt him again.


	10. Apologies Exchanged

When Raf woke a few hours later, Pilar had already left for work herself. He got up from the couch and peeked into the garage. He saw with relief that not only was Flashdrive still there, but she was still fast asleep. He closed the door again, and then turned as he heard his phone buzzing. He ran over and picked it up. "Hello?" he asked, not even looking at the caller ID.

**Raf! You're never gonna guess who we ran into last night!** Miko's voice squeaked on the other side of the phone.

Raf looked towards the garage door. "...Bee?" He guessed quietly.

**Excellent guess! He got into a hit-and-run last night while he was out looking for-**

"A hit-and-run? Is he okay?"

**Oh yeah! A little banged up, but he's okay. He's out looking for a little baby bot that ran off from his group.**

"I see... Where is he now?"

**We got him to rest and recover in an old warehouse outside of the base's perimeters. He's still here, if you wanna come see him.**

"Absolutely. _Don't_ let him leave until I get there."

**Will do.**

Raf hung up the phone, then grabbed a toaster pastry and a bottle of water before going out into the garage. "Hey Flashdrive..."

The little bot stirred, her optics fluttering open before widening and looking around for a brief moment. Her optics finally fell on Raf, and she relaxed. "...Rafael." She murmured.

"Uh huh...My friend just called. Bumblebee's out here looking for you."

"Bumblebee...?" Her face lit up just a little, "...Looking for me...?"

"Uh huh..." Raf came over. "I _told_ you he couldn't be that mad at you...I'm gonna take you to him...Okay?"

Flashdrive nodded, getting up immediately. "Take me." She agreed.

"Good...Come on, we need to get you out of town before anyone else sees you..."

* * *

Bumblebee was still aching when he woke up, but he'd rested long enough. He'd lost a few hours on the search, and that was plenty of time for something to have happened to his child.

"Good morning, Bee." Jack replied, "How're you feeling?"

"Well enough." Bumblebee murmured, transforming into robot mode and grimacing as his joints all popped as he moved. "Ah...! Stiff. I'm stiff."

"You sure you're up for moving around?"

"I don't have much choice... I need to find Flashdrive before something happens to her. She doesn't know this planet like I do."

"So what exactly happened that made this baby-bot run off?" Miko asked.

Bumblebee sighed. "I...I ignored her. She's _my_ responsibility, and I wasn't paying attention to her, I was treating her like I do the rest of the team...But I can't. She's not a soldier, she's a baby, for Primus' sake! You can't just ignore it when it cries, even if you don't know what to do, you have to do _something_!"  
Bumblebee sat down on his knees. "This is my fault... I was too focused on being what I've always been that I didn't even realize it can't be like that anymore... I just hope she's okay..."  
He turned as he heard the door of the warehouse open, and for a moment he panicked, before seeing a little and familiar robot come running up from outside, crashing into him and wrapping their arms around him. "Flashdrive...!"

"I'm sorry!" She sobbed, her faceplate buried in his torso. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Bumblebee relaxed, and then scooped up his daughter, holding her up against his chest. "You're okay...! Thank Primus...!"

"I'm sorry...!"

"Shh shh shh...I'm sorry too... I know now that I'll need to make adjustments to my routine to accomodate you being here with me." He stroked her head gently. "...I'm the one who should be apologizing... I'm the one who was pushing you away..."

"Of all the things I imagined you doing..."  
Bumblebee looked up as a voice came from the shadows, and a human man stepped out into the light with a grin. "...I never thought being a father would be one of them, Bee."

"Raf..."

"Hello, Bumblebee..." Raf came up to the bot. "...It's good to see you."

"The same, Raf..." Bumblebee murmured. "...I would've come to visit you, but it had been so long and...I didn't want to interrupt your new life with a visit from an old one."

"I understand, Bee..." He grinned.

"So we found Bee, and you found the baby..." Miko murmured, then gave Raf a high-five. "Not bad for Team Prime!"

Jack rolled his eyes, then placed an arm around both of his teammates. "Not bad at all... You'll be keeping in touch with us now, right Bee?"

"We may be revealing ourselves to the public soon, so I may call you for advice." Bumblebee looked to Flashdrive again as she rested her head against his shoulder. "...But for now, I'd better get her home and make sure the rest of the team hasn't blown up the scrapyard."

"So the war's still going?" Raf asked cautiously.

"No...Just rounding up stray cons that come here to make trouble... We have a lot of catching up to do, and most of it is my fault, but I'm going to make up for it, I promise."

"Even if this _was_ goodbye again..." Raf patted his former guardian's leg. "It was nice to see you again..."

"Thank you for protecting Flashdrive."

"You're welcome...Now I think the three of us have some work to do back at our own HQ."

"Right."

Bumblebee grinned, and then tapped his comm link. "Bumblebee to Fixit, send us a Groundbridge, please..."

* * *

"FINALLY!" Strongarm hissed as she heard their leader's voice over the comms.

"He's only been gone for like...Twelve hours." Russell murmured, counting the hours on his fingers.

"But a lot's happened in that time." Sideswipe informed. "And I don't know how long Ratchet wants to be on hold."

"Good point."

The team all waited as the Groundbridge opened, and after a few seconds, Bumblebee stepped back through, cradling Flashdrive against his chest.

"Is she okay?" Grimlock asked, seeing how still Flashdrive was.

"She's fine... We both are."

"You still look a little worse for wear, Lieutenant." Strongarm expressed.

"I'm fine, really."

"Bee! You're never gonna guess what happened while you were gone!" Sideswipe announced, turning the Lieutenant's attention away from his Cadet's concern.

"Do I _want_ to know...?" Bumblebee asked cautiously.

"Fixit's fixed!" Russell revealed.

"What?" He turned to Flashdrive, who was shifting nervously. "Did you do it, Flashdrive?"

The little bot wouldn't look at him. "When I was trying to figure out how to use the Groundbridge, I... saw something that looked like it was out of place, so I...I put it back. I'm sorry."

"_Don't_ be!" Fixit insisted. "I can finally properly defend myself again...Thank you."

Flashdrive looked back up with a smile, "You're welcome..."

Bumblebee looked over to Knockout, who was still lying on the medical table. "Can you do anything for_ him_?"

"It's some sort of virus, but I haven't been able to isolate it." Fixit murmured, "He's also extremely low on energon, not just from his injuries, and it looks like he's been on his own for a while."

Bumblebee looked at the medic. He hadn't seen or heard from Knockout in a very long time, had he been banished, like Ratchet was? If so, then he might have been wandering the galaxy, not even knowing that Cyclonus and the rest of the council had been dethroned and replaced.  
He looked at his daughter, and then placed her down on the table. "If you can fix Fixit, then maybe you can help Knockout."

Flashdrive's grin widened, "Help!" She replied, and her tendrils uncurled.

"Sir," Strongarm started, but Bumblebee shook his head.

"Let her try...We've been keeping her from helping all week."

Flashdrive's tendrils connected to Knockout's helm, and after a moment, they inverted, white becoming blue and blue becoming white. After a few seconds, Knockout's expression softened and he relaxed, and Flashdrive placed her hands on the sides of his helm. "Denny, can I borrow someone electronic that you don't mind me breaking?"

Denny looked at her for a moment, and then handed her an old cell phone. She took the phone with one tendril, and after a second the cell phone sparked and fizzled. "What was that?"

"I moved most of the virus into that..." She disconnected from Knockout's helm as the red bot gave a soft moan. "He's sleeping. I didn't fix all of it, but he can do the rest."

Bumblebee grinned, picking up his daughter and holding her close. "Good girl...That's my good girl..."

"I love you too..."

"Also, Ratchet called." Denny informed. "Said he needs to talk to you about something."

"Ratchet? Did he say anything about what it was?"  
They all shook their heads. "Alright...Keep an eye on Knockout..."

* * *

Bumblebee looked at the screen as his old friend's face appeared. "Ratchet...Sorry about not being able to get your message earlier."

**It's quite alright, Bumblebee. I understand that you're busy with your mission to defend Earth.** Ratchet smiled, **Actually, that's part of why I called.**

"Oh?"

**Yes... The Council has decided to allow you to reveal yourselves to the humans whenever you see fit.**

Bumblebee grinned. "Really? Wow, that's quite an honor...And responsibility."

**Agreed. But I know you can handle the situation well, Bumblebee. You've grown into a very wise and capable leader.**

"Gee Ratchet, you're making me blush... I sure don't feel wise, especially right now."

**Is everything alright?**

"I've just made some mistakes these past few days... But we managed to resolve it."

**Mistakes are part of learning, Bumblebee.**

"Yes...I know." Bumblebee looked off to the side, where Flashdrive was sitting out of view with a grin on her face. "How are you doing?"

**As well as an old timer can... One more thing. The Council is sending one of their representatives to observe your team for a week or so and see how smoothly your team is working together.**

Bumblebee's optics widened. "How well we work together...? Well, this'll be interesting..."

**I wouldn't worry too much. The representative is a big fan of your work...I'm sending you his file for you to look over.**

Bumblebee saw the image that appeared alongside Ratchet's face, and a smile began to form. "...I see... And I'm impressed."

**You don't think him being there will disrupt your work, will it?**

"Nah... Actually, it would be helpful for him to come. When he returns to Cybertron he can take Knockout back with him."

**Knockout? ...I hadn't heard from him in ages.**

"He was banished, like you were. We got into a bad fight with Steeljaw and is recovering at our base, but he should be able to travel in a few days, and we have Oversight in a stasis pod to be returned as well."

**Glad to hear it.**

"Ratchet, I...I have something I need your opinion on."

**I believe the humans say "Shoot."**

Bumblebee grinned. "You're the greatest medic I know, so I want your opinion on this...What do you think of the possibility of a cybertronian being created from another cybertronian?"

Ratchet looked puzzled for a moment. **Well...If it is possible, then it would be extremely rare, because I've never heard of such a thing. Why?**

"Oh, Russell was just wondering how we're born and that was one of his thoughts and it got me wondering..."

**I see. Well, I need to get back to my reports. Keep your team outta trouble, Bumblebee.**

Bumblebee nodded. "Yes, Ratchet. I'll talk to you soon."  
The Lieutenant turned off the screen and looked back over to Flashdrive, who's optics were narrowed. "What?"

"You lied."

"I did."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not ready to tell everybody about you just yet." He scooped up his daughter in his arms, "I'll tell him once we know how you got here."

"What if we don't know?"

"Then I'll just have to tell him we don't know. But for right now, I don't want every medic and scientist in the galaxy coming to study me or you to find the answer."

"Okay..."

Bumblebee grinned, and then picked her up. "Now, I think it's past your recharge time."

"What time is that?"

Bumblebee thought for a moment, "...Nine."

"Aww! Russell stays up later than that!"

"Russell's a teenager, you're a week old."

Flashdrive pouted, but there was no hiding the cheery glint in her optics. It made Bumblebee feel much better. He was making progress, and that was what mattered...


	11. There's Something You Need to Know

Bumblebee hadn't told the rest of the team the news immediately, as it was late by then and he needed to rest and recover further from the hit-and-run he'd suffered from. Sideswipe was disappointed that he'd have to wait even longer for the news, but the rest understood Bumblebee's exhaustion.

However, they were right there when he came out of stasis sleep the next morning, awaiting the news, whether it was good or bad. "Nice to see you all too..." He muttered.

"Can you really blame us, Sir?" Strongarm asked.

Bumblebee chuckled. "No..."

"So what was it that Ratchet wanted to talk to you about?" Russell asked.

Bumblebee smiled a little. "...We've been given the okay to reveal ourselves to the humans, whenever we feel it is right."

"SWEET!" Sideswipe shouted. "When do we start!?"

"Not just yet, Sideswipe. We need to do this in a slow and cautious manner, we don't want to scare them into launching an assault on us."

"A wise decision, Bumblebee." Drift agreed. "From what me and my students have seen, humans can be easily startled into fighting against what they do not understand."

"We'll start with Crown City. Once we have their trust, then we may move on to higher levels in the government. Just like the Rescue Bots on Griffin Rock, we have to make sure that we don't intimidate them when we make our appearance."

"I can't wait to be able to just go into town and be myself."

"But with our secret exposed, keeping a low profile in town will become much more difficult." Drift reminded.

Grimlock grinned. "But I'll be able to help on missions much better now! No more hiding under a tarp, or pretending to be a crane..."

"Also...There's something you all should know."  
All comments on the idea of exposure stopped as Bumblebee's voice echoed across the yard. It was sharp, like he'd had to force the words from his throat.

"Lieutenant...?" Strongarm questioned as their leader looked at the ground. "What's the matter?"

"...I haven't been fully honest with you, and I'm sorry... But I can't keep it a secret anymore. Oversight was right, I _have_ been keeping things from you, but only because I..." He turned away from them. "..._I_ didn't want to be the one to tell you..."

"Whatever it is, Bee, you can tell us." Sideswipe replied as he came up to his leader's shoulder. "We're a team, after all."

"Yeah! It can't be _that_ bad!" Grimlock assured.

Bumblebee shut his eyes. "That day...The day we all came here to hunt down the prisoners...That wasn't the first time I'd met you, Sideswipe...Or you, Grimlock."

The dinobot and red sports car became still, staring at their leader with confusion. "What are you talking about?" Sideswipe asked. "I mean sure, I'd seen you before at the station when I was arrested before that day, but-"

Bumblebee turned to face them again, his optics moving from bot to bot as he spoke. "You know how when we go offline, they say we...'Become one with the Allspark?'"

"Yes." Strongarm informed. "What about it?"

"During the war, there was a theory that if the Sparking Wells were ever to reactivate, they may take old sparks and recycle them into new bots...New lives." Bumblebee was quiet for a moment. "...It was true."

Sideswipe took a few steps back. "Are you saying we were someone else before...!?"

"No...You've always been Sideswipe, and Grim's always been Grimlock, but your lives... This is your second life... That was Oversight what meant when she said that Grimlock was supposed to be dead, and assumed you'd been reformatted... We lost you both during the war."  
Bumblebee placed a hand on the younger bot's shoulder, surprised that Sideswipe didn't pull away. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, but you two should know that if I hadn't met your previous lives, I probably would not have given you a chance, and you wouldn't be here right now."

Grimlock nodded. "I'm the only prisoner you gave a chance..."

"Yes... And I saw more in Sideswipe than just some delinquent out to cause trouble."

Sideswipe grimaced. "Yeah..." He looked uncertain for a brief moment. "...What happened to us...? I mean, before...How'd we die?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "I can't tell you that...It's not important and I don't think you'd be ready to hear that sort of thing. But...You both perished as heroes."

"Hmph." Sideswipe rolled his eyes. "Not heroes enough for anyone to tell the story about it..."

Bumblebee rolled his eyes. "Also, there's one more thing you need to know... The Council is sending a representative from Cybertron to check in on our progress."

"A representative?" Strongarm asked. "Who?"

"Someone I know, but I'll let it be a surprise."

Drift crossed his arms. "Why do I feel you're keeping it a secret for a ridiculous reason...?"

"You'll just have to see, Drift."

"So what's our first step, Sir?"

"I thought this over last night very carefully... And our first step towards exposure is to reveal ourselves to Hank."

Russell's head popped up at the name. "Hank? Why Hank?"

"She's in here more than any other human besides you two, and I think she could keep her mouth shut if it's for a good reason."

A creaking sound from the medical table caught their attention, and they turned, their minds back on the visitor already with them. "Knockout..."

Knockout moaned as he sat up, putting a hand to his helm. "What in the name of Primus...?"

"Helm-Ache?"

"The worst ever...!" Knockout looked over, and the faintest smirk formed on his faceplate. "...Well if it isn't the famous former scout..."

Bumblebee grinned. "Hi, Knockout...It's been a while."

"Well that's what happens when the High Council banishes you for being a former decepticon." Knockout slowly got up to his feet. "What're you doing back here?"

Bumblebee gestured to his team. "...Being in charge of _this_ train wreck."

"Well, I wouldn't call it a Train Wreck..." Denny murmured.

"We've wrecked trains!" Grimlock expressed. "Does that count?"

Bumblebee rolled his eyes. "Knockout, this is Strongarm, Sideswipe, Grimlock, Fixit, Drift, Denny and Russell Clay..." He smiled as Flashdrive took a seat on his shoulder, "...And Flashdrive."

Knockout smirked as Bumblebee introduced Sideswipe and Grimlock, probably thinking of the same thing he'd just explained to the bots themselves, but his attention then went to Flashdrive. "Okay...You've got my attention, what's a sparkling doing here?"

"We're not exactly sure." Strongarm admitted. "She just..." She looked to Bumblebee, her expression asking if she should continue.

"She arrived here a few days ago." Bumblebee replied. Technically, it was true. "She's still too young to explain how she arrived."

"I see..." Knockout's expression suggested he wasn't convinced, but he decided not to pursue the subject for now. "Well it's certainly nice to see a friendly faceplate."

"I agree...Now," He placed a hand on the medic's shoulder. "Why don't we play a game of Catch Up? Starting with what you've been up to, since I'm sure that story's as long as ours."

Knockout sighed. "When the new High Council arrived, I did what I could to avoid being in their spotlight. They didn't seem to like anyone that supported Optimus Prime, myself included. I thought it was because I was a former Decepticon, but something about them just didn't sit right... I called them out on it, and that turned out to be a mistake. They gave me two options: Banishment from Cybertron, or Imprisonment... I chose the former. I wandered the planetoids in a little rickety ship I stumbled upon, which constantly needed repairs. I had to use most of the rations I had just to keep it running."

"Why not settle on one of the colonies?" Strongarm asked.

Knockout chuckled. "Out of the mouths of protoforms... All those colonists were aware that I was a former 'con. I was straining to get to Velocitron, settle there where nobody cares who you are, as long as you're fast... But I ran out of fuel...Then I spotted Oversight on the planet I wound up on. I was desperate, I figured I could capture her, bring her in, and possibly get some rations out of it."

"Bounty-Hunting."

"Yes...Like I said, I was desperate. I followed her here, and ran into that ragged Dog-Bot back there."

"Steeljaw..." Sideswipe muttered. "We're well accquainted with him."

"That fight would've gone very differently if I was in better shape, but I was too focused on Oversight that I ignored any warnings about my condition..."

"Well don't you worry, Knockout." Bumblebee replied. "You can get back on your feet here, and then when the representative arrives, he can take you back to Cybertron."

"Didn't you hear? I'm banished."

"Didn't _you_ hear?" Sideswipe smirked. "Those Council members were cons and we booted them out! Ratchet, Bulkhead, Jazz and Windblade are the council now."

"Temporarily." Strongarm corrected.

"The point is..." Bumblebee patted Knockout on the back. "I'm sure they can repeal your banishment and help you get properly settled back home."

"We'll see..." Knockout murmured. "...What about this representative you mentioned?"

"They're sending them to oversee how well our team operates. I was sent back here by Optimus to capture the escaped prisoners of the Alchemor when it crashed here, and the rest of them joined me through varying circumstances. Steeljaw's the only one still at large, and that was after we captured him, sent him back to Cybertron and the old council sent him back to destroy us."

"I thought Prime went offline returning the Allspark to the Well of Allsparks."

"Not quite. It's a long story." Bumblebee placed Flashdrive down on the ground before putting an arm around the medic. "Come on, we've got enough energon to share while we catch up further..."

As the two bots walked off, Strongarm leaned down to Flashdrive. "You know who's coming, right?"

Flashdrive grinned, her hands tucked behind her as she swayed back and forth. "Yes...But Daddy doesn't wanna tell you..." She replied.

"As unhelpful as always..." Strongarm muttered.

Sideswipe glared at her, then patted the sparkling on the head. "Nice to have you back, Pipsqueak."

Flashdrive grabbed onto his arm and hugged it. "Thank you, Sideswipe..." And then she took off into the stacks.

Sideswipe smirked. "See? A little friendliness can go a long way..."

Strongarm cross her arms. "I'm still keeping an eye on her..."

"Ah! Why can't you-"

"Hey hey!" Grimlock pushed the two smaller bots apart. "Let's all be cool. As much as I like a good punchin', I don't like it when it's between teammates."

The pair glared at one another, then wandered off, and Grimlock gave a sigh of relief. There had been too much excitement recently, and he'd been acting as peacemaker and not Con-Puncher too often. He needed a break.

"Grimlock!" Flashdrive called from the stacks. "Wanna help me make a sculpture!?"

"Oh yeah! I'm comin', Tiny!"


	12. The One Where She Knows

"Heads up, Rusty!"

Russell looked up, frantically reaching and barely catching the ball that had been passed to him by Hank. "Whoa! G-Got it!"

"Barely!" Butch shouted. "Get your head in the game, man!"

"Sorry!" Russell apologized.  
He knew his head wasn't in the game, it was on the conversation that had been had the previous morning. He had permission to tell Hank, his best friend, about his biggest secret. But how, and when? She might not believe him, and he didn't want it to be super awkward. And by this point, telling anyone else just felt a little bit...wrong.

"Oops! I promised my dad I'd be done by five!" Butch informed. "I gotta go."

"I guess that's the end of practice." Hank sighed as she went to her bike.

"Hey Hank, could I...Could we talk for a minute?"

Hank looked at her watch. "Well...My dad only wants me home by seven, which is in just under two hours, so I guess I have time."

"Cool. Could we go somewhere a little more...private?"

The girl's eyes widened for a moment, and then she leaned closer. "Private, huh...?"

Russell blushed a little, but tried to hide it. "It's just... I have something I want to tell you, but it's a secret, so nobody else can know...Can I trust you?"

Hank smirked, grabbing his hand and taking off into the trees. "Well come on, Mr. Secretive!"

Russell smiled as she led them further in to the trees, but he was still uncertain how to tell her... How to explain that not only were aliens real, but here on Earth and living in their home city. Why hadn't he thought this through? He needed more time!  
"I-I think this is far enough!" He expressed. He knew Sideswipe was waiting for him and he didn't want the autobot to waste too much time trying to find them. The Cybertronian Representative was coming this evening, and he didn't want to delay Sideswipe any more than necessary.

"You're not afraid of getting lost, are you...?"

Russell pulled his hand from hers, looking away a little. "Of course not..."

"To tell the truth, Rusty... I like the idea of being alone, you know? Not much privacy on the football field. My dad makes me wear these earrings to make me look more feminine, but...I like myself the way I am."

"Well so do I." Russell blushed a little more. "I mean...It's cool to have a girl that can play football like you can."

"You think so?"

"Yeah! You really surprised me when I first started playing with you guys, I was actually kinda intimidated because...Heck, a girl was better than I was. Not that it matters anymore."

Hank smirked. "Good to know... So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

Russell's throat was suddenly dry. His mouth opened a few times, but no words came out. "I...I..."

"You what? Speak, Rusty Clay!"

"...I wanted to ask you..." Russell took a deep breath. "...Hank, what do you think about-"  
A low roar caught their attention and cut him off, and they turned around. "Bear...!" Russell hissed.

"I know that!" Hank hissed back. "Maybe if we stay quiet, it won't-"

Any hopes of going unnoticed were shattered as the bear broke free of the bushes, roaring in their direction.

Russell grabbed her hand again, pulling her with him as they fled. "Run, run!"

Both teens took off running, the crashing of bushes and other foliage telling them they were being pursued. "Go go go!" Hank gasped.

"There!" Russell pointed ahead to the red car that had just screeched into view with open doors. "Come on!"  
The pair dove into the car and Hank gasped as the doors slammed shut. Russell shifted into the driver's seat. "DRIVE!" He shouted.

Hank looked ahead as the bear came towards them, then gasped as the seatbelts in the car automatically strapped them in and the car pulled away. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh!"

"It's okay!" Russell assured, grabbing onto her hand with one hand and clinging to the handle on the door with the other as the car sped through the trees on it's own. "It's okay...!"

"Okay!? The car's driving itself!"

Russell looked behind them, seeing the bear following, but slowly getting further and further behind. "...This wasn't really what we had in mind when we decided to tell you about this."

"What are you talking about?" Hank's grip on his hand tightened.

Russell sighed. "...Hank, I'd like for you to meet a friend of mine." He moved his other hand to the strange symbol in the middle of the steering wheel. "...This is Sideswipe."

"Hi, Hank!" A voice replied, coming from the speakers, and the symbol on the steering wheel flashed with each syllable spoken. "Don't freak out, okay?"

"You're a talking car...!"  
Russell waited for Hank's reaction, but was relieved when a wide smile came onto her face and she placed her hands on the dashboard. "You're a talking car!"

"Uh huh." Sideswipe's mirrors shifted a little. "...Looks like Yogi's giving up back there."

"Which way's the road back to town?"

"...Good question."

Russell sighed as he pulled out his phone. "I'll pull up my GPS. I'm surprised you don't have one, Sideswipe."

"I have one! I just...don't feel like using it most of the time..."

Hank turned to Russell. "Okay, spill. How'd your dad get a talking car?"

Russell smirked. "Sideswipe is a cybertronian, from the planet called Cybertron far away from our galaxy. He and the rest of his team came here to protect Earth from other extraterrestrial threats. As of this very moment, only you, me, my dad and one other human know about their existance."

"Our leader wanted you to know about us, since we set up our HQ in Denny's scrapyard and you come by so often." Sideswipe informed.

"I suppose that's a good point...And you guys could just hide with the other cars, right?"

"Right!"

"Okay, the road's north of us." Russell informed.

"Great!...Which way's north?"

Russell rolled his eyes. "Left, but there's some dense woods in that direction, so we may have to make some of the distance on foot."

"Or we could call base for a groundbridge?"

"Let's not blow Hank's mind _completely_ out of her head on the first day."

The sports car gave a gasp, "You can _do_ that...!?"

Hank snickered, then looked to Russell. "Rusty...I'm glad you told me about this."

Russell smiled. "You're welcome...But you have to keep it a secret, okay?"

"You got it...As long as you keep me up to date on what they're doing. I don't wanna miss anything!"

"I'll see what I can do..."

**Sideswipe, where are you?**  
The voice was male, and came out of the sports car's radio.

"Bee! H-Hi...I'm on my way back with Russell...And Hank."

**...What happened...?**

"There was a bear, Bee." Russell informed. "We had to get out of there fast."

**Alright alright...Just stay out of trouble. We just got a ping from the Representative's ship. It'll be landing in about an hour. I'm sending you the coordinates.**

"On it. Be there in a flash!"

"Your leader, I'm guessing."

"Yup."

"Who's the representative?" Hank asked.

"Bee won't tell us... Only that they're here to evaluate our team's progress and that he knows them personally."

"Well we'll get to meet them in an hour." Russell replied. "Let's just hope we're not late..."

* * *

"What do you think, Lieutenant?"

Bumblebee looked up from his scanner as Strongarm came walking over, a smile creeping across his faceplate. "Looking good, Cadet. Did you wash and wax yourself?"

"Yes. I wanted to look my very best for my introduction to this important representative." Strongarm stood up at attention.

Bumblebee chuckled. "Well I'm sure he'll appreciate your efforts, Strongarm."

"I'd still like to know why you're keeping their identity a secret." Drift informed.

"I told you Drift, it's a surprise. Don't worry, it's not anyone we've had trouble with previously."

Screeching tires caught their attention, and Sideswipe came flying into the clearing, coming to a stop and transforming into robot mode. "Sorry I'm late! I...Got a little tied up."

"And dirty...!" Strongarm muttered.

The sports car brushed himself off. "Hey, _you_ get chased by a bear and see how clean _you_ are by the end of it!"

"We're about to meet a very important bot and you can't even bother to-"

"Stop. This isn't time for one of your arguments."  
They all looked up as a ship deactivated its cloaking and appeared over the trees, slowly moving down towards the ground.  
"Looks like the representative is here..." Bumblebee murmured as the ship landed in the field.

The door opened, and they all waited for the official to exit, Bumblebee in front.

Out of the ship came another yellow and black bot, and the red sports car's jaw dropped as his optics widened. "You!?"

"Yes...Me." The bot replied as he stepped off of the ramp and ship closed. "It's been a while, Sideswipe."

Bumblebee chuckled. "Team, I'd like you all to meet Representative Sunstreaker..."

Sunstreaker gave a bow, and then stepped up to the team. "It's a pleasure to be here with all of you."

"Well I'm glad _you're_ pleased..." Sideswipe muttered.

"I take it the two of you have a history." Strongarm expressed with a glance to her teammate.

"Indeed we do, quite the history, actually..." Sunstreaker replied, raising an eyebrow as Sideswipe looked away from him and placed a hand on his chestplate. "You couldn't have cleaned up a little...?"

"I actually have a job to do, Sunstreaker! A job that gets me dirty. You're not my dad..."

"...What's a dad?"

Bumblebee stepped up to shake Sunstreaker's hand, disrupting the tension a little. "It's nice to have you here, Sunstreaker. I don't know how much action we'll see while you're here, it's typically either flood or famine."

Sunstreaker nodded. "I'm sure there will be some action, even if it's not fighting 'cons..."

They turned back to the ship as another bot stumbled out of it, wincing at the light. "Wow...Earth's really bright."

Bumblebee grinned. "You'll get used to it."

Sunstreaker walked over, putting his hands on the smaller bot's shoulders. "This is my charge, Starstrike. I took her in as part of a new program the Council put in place to help educate new bots."

"Nice to meet you all!" Starstrike replied.

"The same, Starstrike." Bumblebee replied, shaking the smaller bot's hand.

Sunstreaker then pulled out a device and pressed a button, making his ship's cloaking activate and hide his ship from view. "Now...You mind giving me a tour?"

"Of course not. Follow me."

As Bumblebee and Sunstreaker wandered off, Strongarm leaned over to Sideswipe. "What was _that_?" She asked.

Sideswipe looked away, rubbing his chestplate with a faint grimace. "Nothing...Nothing at all." He muttered, and then walked off.

Grimlock and Strongarm looked to each other, and each gave a shrug before following their team away from the ship and back towards the Scrapyard.


	13. Back at the Scrapyard

"We're back!"

"Good." Knockout responded as Bumblebee rolled past him. "Now we can- Whoa! Hello!" Knockout announced as Sunstreaker came rolling in and transformed into robot mode. "Government greenie at 10 O'Clock!"

"Ha ha..." Sunstreaker smirked, holding a hand out in greeting. "...Representative Sunstreaker."

"Knockout."

"Ah...The reformed Decepticon medic. What brings you all this way?"

"Call it fate."

"He got in over his head and needed reinforcements." Bumblebee admitted, getting a glare from the medic before changing the subject. "Sunstreaker here was sent by the Council to check in on us."

"I see...Did they decide to reunite you two or did you set this whole thing up yourself?"

"They asked for volunteers and I was the only on to raise a servo... I wanted to get a look at Earth myself, you know? And make sure Sideswipe was staying out of trouble."

"Hmph..."

The pair looked to Sideswipe as the teenager walked off, and Knockout crossed his arms. "What's gotten under _his_ armor?"

Sunstreaker shrugged. "He's been like this since I got here."

"Have you tried to talking to him?" Bumblebee asked.

"Yes. He's ignoring me. I think he's mad at me for something...No idea what, though. The last time I asked, his response was 'If you don't know, I'm not telling you.'"

"Sorry to change the subject, Bumblebee." Knockout apologized, "But I need to talk to you about that device Steeljaw's gotten his paws on."

"What about it?"

"I didn't get a very good look at it, but it's definitely a viral-transmitter."

"Obviously."

"From the size and what I was able to see, it was either a Bi- or Tri-Transmitter, meaning it can only infect someone twice or thrice."

"Is thrice a word?" Sunstreaker inquired.

"Yes."

"Okay, just wondering."

"So we know he used it on you, so he's only got one or two shots left. If that had been the last one, he wouldn't have kept it, I don't think."

"Anyway, if he's only got one shot left, then we could theoretically get it and use it on him to incapacitate him, or at least get him to waste the shots on other machines and render it useless."

"Why would someone invent a device that infects people with a virus?"

"It's a Decepticon-design, which pretty much explains that. Looks like a medical tool, but is a weapon."

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

"Let's not pull the past into the present right now." Bumblebee interrupted. "Our goal needs to be locating Steeljaw and the Viral-Transmitter before he can hurt anyone else with it."

"Agreed...But let's work out a plan for finding him first. We can't let any bots going out alone in case of an ambush."

Sunstreaker and Bumblebee nodded in agreement. "For the time being, let me show you around, Sunstreaker."

"I'd appreciate that, Lieutenant..."

* * *

"You can look, but don't touch."

Hank's eyes were wide as she overlooked the Command Center's console. Russell couldn't stop grinning. Having a friend know about their secret and being excited about it had been a worry, but now it was something to smile about.  
"Look at all of this stuff...!" Hank whispered. "I can't believe I'm standing in what used to be the bridge of an alien space ship...!"

"Kinda takes your breath away, doesn't it?" Denny murmured, then a ping turned his attention to the security console. "Sounds like the bots are back."

Russell looked out as the autobots all came into the clearing, Drift letting his minicons free to wander on their own.

"Are those his kids?" Hank whispered.

"No. They're just his students." Russell murmured. His attention was caught by movement and he saw Flashdrive came rushing out of the stacks. "But Flashdrive there is their leader's daughter. She's only a little over a week old."

"Really?"

Russell nodded, and then saw Sideswipe bring up the rear of the bots. "Hey Side..." His voice trailed off as he saw how grumpy Sideswipe looked all of a sudden. "...What happened?" He asked.

Strongarm shrugged. "He's been like this since the representative got here. They obviously have a history, but I'm guessing it's not a good one..."

"They'll fix it." Flashdrive assured as she climbed up onto the front of the Command Center and took a seat. "Daddy and I fixed it."

"That was because you both _wanted_ to fix it." Denny replied. "Sometimes people want to stay angry with each other..."

"Why?"

Denny sighed. "It's complicated, Flash..."

Sideswipe disappeared into the stacks again on the other side, and nobody else considered it wise to bother him right now.

After a few minutes, they heard Bumblebee talking to someone else, the Representative, by the sound of it. As Bumblebee entered the clearing, another yellow and black bot followed him in, accompanied by a littler purple and white bot.

"Mi Padre!" Flashdrive jumped off of the slope and ran over to Bumblebee. "You're back!"

Bumblebee grinned, bending down to the little virocon. "Yup. I have a job for you, _Mi Hija_..." He pulled the other bot a little closer, "This is Starstrike, can you keep her company?"

Flashdrive grinned wider. "OKAY!" She took Starstrike's hand and pulled her off into the rest of the scrapyard. "Come on! I wanna show you my sculptures!"

"Okay!" Starstrike replied with an equal amount of excitement in her voice, letting herself be dragged off by the slightly-smaller autobot.

The representative chuckled. "I'm glad you have another little bot to keep her occupied. I was beginning to second-guess my decision to bring her along with me."

"She's good at keeping people busy..." Bumblebee admitted, then led the bot over to the Command Center. "Guys, this is Representative Sunstreaker. Representative, this is Fixit, and the humans Denny, Russell and Hank."

The bot gave a nod. "Just call me Sunstreaker." His attention fell mostly on Denny, Russell and Hank. "Forgive me, I just hadn't realized humans were so...small."

Denny smirked. "Small but mighty!" He announced. "We've been able to help Bee and the others on our own before."

"That is true, and those are stories for another day." Bumblebee replied. "Any sign of Steeljaw, Fixit?"

"No sir. And I haven't gotten a lock on his weapon either."

"Keep working on it." Bumblebee then turned to Hank. "Nice to finally meet you, Hank. I've seen you play with Russell a few times and I must say you're good."

"Well that's high praise, coming from a giant, alien robot from outer space." Hank replied with a smile.

Bumblebee chuckled. "I have a feeling you'll fit right in with this group..."

Russell kept an eye on Sunstreaker while trying not to look suspicious, trying to figure out what it was about him that Sideswipe didn't like. They seemed very similar, in fact...their faces were similar too.

"It's getting late." Hank pulled away from her friend. "I'd better be getting home."

Denny nodded. "Come on, we'll take my truck..."

Russell waved goodbye to Hank as she and Denny climbed into the truck and pulled out of the yard, and then turned to Bumblebee. "If you guys are going to be discussing business and all that boring stuff, I'm gonna go find something more interesting to do."

"Have fun, I guess..." Bumblebee murmured with mild confusion, but apparently wasn't going to question his actions.

Russell wandered through the stacks, listening for the red sports car before coming to a stop as he saw him sitting on a pile of tires and muttering to himself. "Sideswipe?"

The bot looked up and his angry expression softened a little. "...Hey Russell."

"What's up?"

Sideswipe got up. "Bumblebee should've told me Sunstreaker was the bot coming...I could've come up with some excuse _not_ to be here."

"Did you two know each other?"

Sideswipe scoffed, looking away. "...Yeah...Or at least..." His head fell. "...I _thought_ I knew him."

"Bumblebee probably didn't mean to make things awkward."

"Yeah? Well he did. I know I shouldn't be mad at him, but...I didn't think Sunstreaker and I would ever have to see each other again. We were on complete other planets, for Prime's sake!" The bot took a seat again. "...I can do this. I can pretend to get along with him for a week...I think."

"Good...But maybe if you just talk to him, you might find things have changed."

The bot didn't respond, just looked away from the teenager. Russell sighed, and then left the bot alone. _Looks like Bee and Flashdrive aren't the only one with relationship problems..._


	14. Confrontation

By the time Sunstreaker had been given the full tour and been debriefed on their current situation with Steeljaw, it was late and the humans had gone to bed. The bots all stood around the Command Center, chatting together a little.

Bumblebee chuckled as he saw Flashdrive and Starstrike zonked out on Grimlock's trailer, the two little bots having worn themselves out and now leaning back against each other. "All that fun takes it out of you..." He murmured.

Sunstreaker smirked. "...We used to sleep like that." He expressed, his smile fading as he looked over to the red spots car practicing his kicks and punches on his own. "...Do you think I should talk to him?"

"If you want to get past whatever it is, then yes... I know he doesn't like to talk about his own problems- Well, unless it's about Strongarm."

"Do they bicker a lot?"

Bumblebee sighed. "Strongarm is a...Very _strict_ rule-follower and enforcer. Sideswipe gets on her nerves, she gets on his...They can work together, it just takes them a little bit to put their differences aside."

"I see...I'd better do it now. No point in waiting until tomorrow."

Sunstreaker took in a deep breath, and then wandered across the yard. "...Excuse me, Sideswipe?"

"Yes, Representative?" Sideswipe asked, not even pausing in his battle training.

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes. "Sideswipe, it's me. You can just talk to me."

"No. If I were to just talk to you, then you might put down a bad portion of your report to the Council."

"My mission is to see how you work with your team, not how you work with me...This isn't about you and your team, this is about how you've been ignoring me since I got here, and we need to fix it."

Sideswipe paused, glaring at the visitor. "If you don't know why, then I'm not going to tell you."

"Come on, Sides! We haven't spoken in vorns! I might have _forgotten_ whatever it was!"

The other bots were now all looking at them, but this needed to happen and Sideswipe didn't seem to be in the mood to go somewhere private for it.

Sideswipe walked up to him, "I'm tolerating you as long as you're here, but don't think that I'm going to just forgive you for what you did."

Sunstreaker's eyebrows furrowed as the other bot started to walk off. "What did I do? Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker shouted.

Sideswipe winced and placed a hand on his chestplate again. "Stop that, it hurts."

"I can't help it, Sideswipe! It may have been dampened by distance before, but I can't control it any more than you can. I feel yours too, I always have!"

"Then how could you leave me there!?"

"Leave you..." Sunstreaker's optics widened and he backed away. "Sideswipe..._That's_ what's bothering you...!?"

"Yes! You left me, Sunstreaker! I waited for you, for cycles and cycles, and you never came!"

Sunstreaker's mouth opened, but nothing came out for several seconds. "Sideswipe...I-I had my reasons for not-"

"Just forget it. Go back to pretending like nothing's wrong...!"

Sunstreaker watched him leave the clearing, but didn't move after him.

Bumblebee walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just let him cool off...It may not seem like it, but this is important."

"Y-Yeah..." Sunstreaker stammered, looking away. "...I know what to do now..."

Bumblebee turned to the others. "If we're in the mood to talk about important things... Knockout?"

The medic's optics rapidly looked up from his cup of energon, his grip tightening on the cup as if he was worried about being in trouble for something. "...I'd like to talk to you in private."

* * *

The team leader and medic wandered from the clearing, climbing up on top of some of the stacks and took seats on it.

"Alright, what is it, kiddo?" Knockout teased.

"Knockout...You know how Flashdrive is here...Don't you?"

The medic's smirk faded and he nodded. "I do... On my travels, I encountered many cybertronian colonies throughout space... A few in particular had been dealing with it for a while...It's called Budding. It's a process that was utilized back in the earliest days of Cybertron, before the wells were created. New bots broke off from a parent bot in a manner that human scientists refer to as asexual, up until a certain number was reached, and then it didn't happen anymore. However, since the colonist worlds didn't have wells either, that part of their programming was reactivated in certain individuals. I studied those that did and didn't, trying to find any connection that might help us detect potential parents in the future."

"Did you find any?"

"I did... On the four or five colonies I studied, there were certain things that they all had in common. While I've been here, I've kept an eye on your team, trying to see if any more of you might be at risk..."

"And?"

"I don't have any data on Minicons or Dinobots, so I can't tell you on them, but one of the things that the budders had in common was that they were all war-era, which makes me think that Strongarm and Sideswipe are not currently at risk, they're too young. Probably the same for Drift's minicons, if they bud at all."

"So the only person you'd be concerned about is Drift himself."

Knockout nodded. "He may not realize it, but he possesses paternal instincts even towards his minicon students. I don't think it'll be an issue, but try to keep an eye on him, just in case." Knockout leaned back a little. "The only reason I was really that interested in it was that I was trying to find an answer for myself..."

Bumblebee turned to face him. "You budded too?"

"Mmmhmm...Not long after the All-Spark was returned, actually... When I was banished, I told him to stay outta trouble, but then I got a transmission saying he'd been arrested along with his Stunticon buddies...Shows how much he listened to me..."

Bumblebee stiffened a little bit, not able to look the medic in the optic all of a sudden. "...Which one?" He asked cautiously.

Knockout smirked. "His name's Wildbreak..." He looked back at the uncomfortable Lieutenant. "...The one who looked like my old assistant."

Bumblebee nodded, "...Do you know why that is?"

"I think it has to do with the subconscious thoughts and feelings of the parent during the process...And I was thinking about Breakdown a lot at that time... He didn't deserve that kind of end."

"No...And I can't think of a single bot who does..."

"...Not even Starscream?"

A snort came from the yellow bot as a smile appeared on his faceplate and he shook his head. "Nope...Not even him."

"I heard you put him in a coma not too long ago."

"Yeah..."

"Serves him right...Karma works in mysterious ways... One day you're putting your leader in a coma and trying to take him off spark support..."

"Yeah..."

"Speaking of Megatron, have you heard from him at all?"

"Are you kidding!? Why would he want to talk to _me_? I stabbed him through the spark!..." Bumblebee sighed. "Soundwave tried to call him a few months ago, but we cut the line before it could go through. I don't know where he is, and honestly, I don't think I care."

A smile creeped onto the bot's face again. "You know...it's nice to just talk about those days with someone who understands. I could tell my team about it, but it's not the same if you weren't there..."

"I agree..." Knockout looked out over the woods, and to the glow of Crown City on the horizon. "...I suppose this place can grow on you if you let it."

"You thinking of staying?"

"Tempting...But no. I need to get back to Cybertron and set Wildbreak straight."

Bumblebee nodded in understanding. "...What else besides age did you find in common?"

"Age, most of them weren't brawlers that put their hardware at risk all the time, quieter temperment...Why?"

"Just curious... You know, Sideswipe and Grim are really good with Flashdrive. I could see them both being good cannidates for budding one of these days."

"I see...I think it has to do with the planet itself too...Like there are tons of planets out there without sparking wells, but narrowing down the number of planets is planetoids that are suitable for colonization of Cybertronians."

"So on top of proper conditions in the bots themselves, also conditions that are suitable for them. Territory, food, resources... sustainable homes for the new bots to grow on."

"Exactly."

Bumblebee's eyebrows furrowed. "Knockout, you have to get this information to the Medical Council on Cybertron. Any bot leaving Cybertron might be at risk!"

"I know...I'm just not sure they'd listen to-"

"Lieutenant!" Fixit called from below, and Bumblebee looked down as the minicon wheeled up into view with Sunstreaker close behind.

"What is it, Fixit?"

"We just lost contact with Sideswipe."

Bumblebee hopped down. "What do you mean?"

"He left the Scrapyard in a huff, and now we can't find his signal, and he's not answering his comm link." Russell replied.

"Maybe he's just ignoring us?" Denny suggested.

"Or Steeljaw got him with that viral transmitter." Knockout replied as he hopped down as well, "We _told_ everyone to go out in groups..."

Bumblebee shook his head, "We should investigate. As a group, not alone."

"But how do we find him?"

Sunstreaker transformed into vehicle mode. "I can feel his presence and can track him psychically. He can ignore me all he likes, but I'm not going to leave him out there alone."

Bumblebee nodded, "Then lead the way. It looks like you'll be seeing some action after all..."

"This is probably partially my fault too, you know..."

"We're not playing the Blame Game right now. Let's just find him and make sure he's okay. Denny and Russell, if Flashdrive and Starstrike wake up and wonder where we are, tell them we're on a mission and will be back soon..."


	15. Downpour

A loud crash of thunder shook the air under the overpass, making Sideswipe's chassis rattle a little. His wipers screeched across his windshield as water dripped down on him, and he gave a sigh as he turned off his lights. The storm had rolled in quicker than he had anticipated, the rain crashing down on his roof and freezing his joints and forcing him to take shelter until it let up a little. Everything outside of the overpass' cover was hazy in a gray sheet of rain, little rivers of water running down past Sideswipe's wheels.

"Stupid, pompous representative of a twin...!" He muttered, then gave a sigh. "...Maybe rushing out here all alone wasn't the best idea..."

There was a pulsing warmth in his spark, sending out waves through his body and attempting to warm him. He knew what it was, even though he hadn't felt it in ages... His brother was trying to contact him. With each wave of warmth came a pulse of emotion through his spark. Sadness, twinges of anger, but mostly worry.

Why was he worried? Why did he suddenly care?

But a thud and a silhouette appearing in the midst of the downpour caught his attention. He kept his lights off, slowly pulling back further into the underside of the overpass. He was certain Sunstreaker could feel his discomfort and concern, but didn't make a sound.

It was when the shape suddenly shrunk down and a pair of headlights flashed on that Sideswipe's engine revved, preparing to bolt if necessary. The other transformer's engine revved as well, and then they shot forward, towards Sideswipe.

Sideswipe's wheels squealed in the water soaking them, but they got better traction than the one out in the rain, and he flew past them, into the cover of the rain. His headlights flashed back on, and he struggled to not hydroplane on the soaked streets. The glow of headlights told him he was being pursued, but he wasn't sure if it was his attacker or another human's vehicle. That cybertronian had to be a Decepticon, who else would've flushed him out of his hiding spot? That could only mean this was a trap.

The rain hammered down on him, and he quickly found another place to hide amidst the cars parked in a crowded lot. He struggled to calm his trembling chassis, looking around for any sign that they were searching. "Bee...!" He hissed. "Bee, come in...!"

**Sideswipe!** Bumblebee's response was fuzzy and crackled with static from the rain's interference. **Where are you!? I can barely hear you!**

"N-Not sure! But-"  
He froze as headlights flashed at the entrance to the yard. "...I think I'm in trouble...!"

_Duh._

Sideswipe's processor hummed with his twin's voice. He'd almost forgotten that their processors could communicate silently to each other, and the rain couldn't mess with the signal, so his voice came out loud and clear.

_Sunny! I...I don't-_

_We'll worry about that later. Right now, I need you to focus. What's your situation?_

_I...I'm in a parking lot. There's a con chasing me, and...He's looking for me here._

_Can you make it to us?_

_I don't know. The rain makes it impossible to know where I am!_

_Don't focus on street signs... Use our bond to find me._

_What?_

_Remember that game we played as sparklings? Where one of us would hide and the other would find the other by tracking them with the bond? Try it again, focus Sideswipe..._

Sideswipe tried to relax, letting his spark feel for its other half. He had ignored it for so long... But he felt it.

The headlights scanned the lines of cars, and Sideswipe became completely still.

"You can't hide forever, Autobot..."

Sideswipe growled as he recognized the voice. _Steeljaw...!_

_He's there?_

Sideswipe sent back a rapid response of confirmation, having forgotten that Sunstreaker could still hear his unprotected thoughts.

He waited just a moment for Steeljaw to turn before slamming on the gas. He shot forward and rammed into Steeljaw's side, knocking the decepticon aside into another row of vehicles. Pain throbbed through his chassis from the impact, but he ignored it as his wheels screeched and he booked it out of the lot. _Augh...Gonna be feeling that tomorrow...!_

_I think you're feeling it now...Me too._

Sideswipe chuckled, and then sped up a little as he allowed his spark to guide him. Street signs were useless in the downpour, and he had to be careful on the turns, but he could feel himself getting closer...

...That was until Steeljaw suddenly showed up in front of him.

Sideswipe's wheels hydroplaned on the soaked asphalt and he slid over, crashing into a stop sign and bending it over. The hit stunned him for but a moment, before panic overrode his primary thoughts and he transformed into robot mode to dodge a slash from the wolf-bot's claws.

His left arm's armor was partially crumpled and his left leg dented from the impact, and he grimaced as he limped back from Steeljaw.

"Nice ambush back there..." Steeljaw murmured. "...But you won't get that chance again...!"

He was right before, coming out alone was a _very_ bad idea...

* * *

The pattering of rain pulled Flashdrive out of her sleep, and she lifted her head from the trailer. "Mmm...Hmm...?" She looked around, and then looked up to see a shimmering bluish shape overhead. "...What is that?"

"Cool huh?" Russell remarked, "Ratchet showed Fixit the schematics for his Triage Shield Generator and Fixit built one to keep the Scrapyard dry from big storms like this."

"Yeah, cuz a big, glowing dome over a junkyard isn't the slightest bit suspicious..."

Starstrike rubbed her optics as she too was awakened by the storm, before looking around the clearing. "...Where's Sunstreaker? Actually, where is everybody?"

"They had a mission out of the yard, they'll be back soon." Denny informed.

Flashdrive straightened up, "They're out in the dark!? They'll get lost!"

Grimlock came over. "Don't worry, they're being careful."

Flashdrive pouted, but didn't argue further.

"I thought you were working on another sculpture, Grim." Denny expressed.

"I was, but then that Oversight bot wouldn't stop staring at me!"

"She what?"

"When she was put in the stasis pod, her eyes were well...Open." Fixit murmured. "It_ is_ a little creepy when you think about it."

A loud crash of thunder shook the scrapyard, and both sparklings screamed in terror.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Starstrike cried, ducking under the trailer with Flashdrive close behind her.

"No no..." Denny informed, "It's just thunder."

"Thunder...? Isn't that a seeker?"

"That's _Thundercracker_, Starstrike." Fixit reminded, "Thunder is just soundwaves coming from-"

"Soundwave _too_!?"

"No! Soundwave the thing, not the Decepticon! It's just sound coming from the lightning, which is electricity up in the atmosphere smacking together and making a loud noise...Kinda makes the sky look like it's on fire."

"Skyfire!" Starstrike looked to Flashdrive. "He's on _our_ side, so we're okay."

Fixit slumped with a groan and rested his helm on the control console. "Primus...! I never thought our names could be taken out of context so much...!"

"There's no Decepticons, girls. It's just loud noises." Denny informed.

"No Decepticons?"

"No. Now come on out from under there."

The pair crawled back out from under the trailer, but still looked uncertain.

"Hey..." Flashdrive took Starstrike's arm. "If there _are_ cons, I'm not helping you run."

"Good thing I can run on my own, then."

Russell looked out into the storm. "But I'll bet those guys are all getting soaked out there...Do bots get colds?"

Denny shrugged. "I'd be more worried about flooded engines with them... Let's hope they get back soon..."


	16. Reconciliation

Sideswipe grimaced, holding his injured arm as he tried to keep his eyes on his adversary. In the dark and the heavy rain, all he could really see was a vague shape with glowing yellow optics coming towards him, and he knew that Steeljaw was armed with a dangerous weapon that could strike him at any moment.

He released his arm to grab his Decepticon Hunter, holding it out in front of him. "I'm not afraid of you, Steeljaw...!" He hissed.

"That's just what a scared bot would say..." Steeljaw murmured. "You came out here, alone and unprepared...While I was certain one of you would slip up sooner or later, I didn't think it would be this badly!"

Sideswipe ducked and attempted to run, but his injured leg gave out from under him and he fell onto the asphalt once more.

"Pathetic, really..."

The pulses of warmth were suddenly coming harder, but he wasn't sure if it was because of his pounding spark. Steeljaw was right, he _was_ scared, and this predicament was his fault...

But several beams of hope appeared as more headlights came out of the haze, one of which moved exceedingly faster towards Steeljaw before transforming and kicking the decepticon back. "Claws off!" They announced.

"S-Sunny...?" Sideswipe mumbled as arms grabbed him and dragged him across the asphalt. The pounding of the rain faded as he was pulled up under something, though some still dripped on his chassis.

"Stay here." Sunstreaker ordered, and then he disappeared into the downpour again.

Any other voices were drowning in a rushing roar like being trapped in an air turbine, wind blowing past his audio sensors. He wasn't sure if the darkness was from the night or if his optical sensors had gone offline, but he could feel his brother's emotions pulsing stronger...Rage and pain. A numbness crept into his arms, making them feel cold and preventing him from moving them, but dulling the pain in the dented one.

There came a loud crack, and the pain increased in their bond. Had his brother been hurt?

"You idiot!" Steeljaw's voice roared, "I only had one of those!"

"Sunstreaker!"

Bumblebee's concerned cry and the pain pulsing through his spark only made Sideswipe worry more, but he could feel himself slipping away, and try as he might, his exhaustion and pain forced himself to fall into the darkness...

* * *

_...You're such an idiot, Sideswipe..._

Sideswipe's eyes opened wide and he sat up, finding himself in a dark, silent space. He knew the voice that had spoken, and he'd hoped to not have heard it so soon after the last time.  
He'd been here once, after Soundwave had buried him in rubble a few months prior. It was a limbo, where you were either led on to the Allspark, or returned to your body. He looked at his glowing frame and then looked around him. "...Okay, where are you?" He muttered.

Just like before, she was just suddenly there. No sound or movement signalled her arrival, she just appeared in his view like she'd been there the whole time. _...Reckless as always..._

Sideswipe crossed his arms. "...I'll assume this is like last time... I'm not dead yet."

_You assume correctly... Sit down._

Sideswipe took a seat on the chair that appeared, looking over his guide from previously. "...You haven't changed."

_Of course not, Sideswipe...Those who join the Allspark don't age...But I'm guessing you're wondering why you're here again..._

"The thought did cross my processor... I mean, I was hurt, but-"

The guide turned away from him, and when she turned back around, an orb was in her hands. _...This orb contains memories...You must make a choice on what memory you wish to see. Only one...Choose wisely..._

Sideswipe looked at the orb, flashes of color appearing amidst the white, memories flying by too past to register what was in them. He took it into his hands, the warmth pulsing like a heartbeat. His mind went back to what Bumblebee had said, that how he'd died before wasn't important for him to know, but it still dug at his mind's deepest pits like a sharp shovel.

But there was another memory...One that tugged at his very spark. His hands tightened their hold on the orb, and he looked up. "...Show me the day Sunstreaker left me... I need to know why..."

The guide touched the orb, and then the light shot out in all directions. Sideswipe closed his eyes to avoid the blinding flash, and when he opened his eyes, he wasn't standing in darkness anymore. He was in a dimly-lit room, shelves upon shelves full of data pads labelled with red and green lights. He knew this room, he'd been in it a few times... This was Sunstreaker's bedroom.

His brother was sitting at a desk in the corner, examining one of the data pads before his comm tab buzzed. His optics moved to the tablet as the screen lit up, and gave a hard sigh as he overlooked the information on it. "Of _course_ he is..." He mumbled. He got up from the desk, and was headed for the door when he paused. "...No, I _can't_...Bailing him out won't change things."

Sideswipe remained still, watching his twin wonder back to the desk, but not sit down. "Not change things...?" He whispered.

Sunstreaker took the tablet back, skimming through results slowly. "Vandalism...Public Disturbance... Interference with law enforcement protocol..." He groaned, putting the tablet back down and finally taking a seat, his faceplate in his hands. "Oh Primus...! What do I do...? If he keeps this up...If his offenses keep getting worse and more destructive, he'll be labeled a...No, I _won't_ let it happen!" He looked back up, eyebrows furrowed. "He needs to learn...and that means leaving him there to face the consequences."

He flipped the tablet over so he couldn't see the screen. "Sorry, Sideswipe...But I can't allow you to continue down this way... I _won't_ let it happen..."

Sideswipe took a step back from his place as the image faded, leaving him in darkness once more.

**_Where is he...? He's usually here by now...!_**

Sideswipe heard his own voice echoing in his audio receptors. The words he'd spoken that day his brother hadn't shown up at the station to get him... He'd made a decision that day, that his brother had quit caring... But now the truth was there...It was that he cared _too much_.

_You see it now...?_

Sideswipe turned to face the Guide. "...He was afraid of me becoming a criminal."

_Yes..._ The Guide looked out, a smile appearing on her faceplate. _...Your friends want you to wake up now... We'll speak one day again..._

"But I have more questions!" Sideswipe complained, but she'd disappeared, and suddenly the ground disappeared as well, and he fell through the dark.

"SIDESWIPE!"

Sideswipe's optics shot open and he winced at the light shining down on him, but then a familiar face appeared over his. "You're awake!"

Sideswipe chuckled. "Outta my face, Flash..." He used one hand to push her out of the way, though grimacing as he moved his other arm. Though it still hurt, it was now more like an ache, and he managed to sit up. "W-What happened...?"

"Short story...You were a bolt-brain going out there alone."

Sideswipe looked to Knockout as he walked over. "Good thing you have an excellent medic here in your camp."

"One who _clearly_ hasn't changed a bit since the war..." Bumblebee teased, "...Long story, you were injured escaping Steeljaw and went into shock. Sunstreaker saved Steeljaw from injecting you with the viral transmitter, but he got infected himself in the process."

"Is he okay!?"

"I'm fine..."  
Sunstreaker walked over, one arm in a sling. "Some damage to _my_ arm too, but it'll heal...As will _you_, thank Primus."

"But neither of us would've been hurt if I hadn't taken off like that..." Sideswipe murmured. "...I blew a fuse, and I'm sorry..."

"...I guess we both have things to apologize for."

"No." Sideswipe got up from the trailer, "...I'm the only one who needs to apologize... I know why you left me there that day now."

"You do?"

"It's a long story...I was getting into too much trouble."

Sunstreaker smirked, putting his uninjured arm around Sideswipe. "Yeah you were... But I still should have explained my actions a long time ago. It wasn't fair of me to leave you in the dark... Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah...But it may be a little while before things are back to normal."

"Agreed... But hey, if you weren't such a troublemaker, you wouldn't be on the same team as the slayer of Megatron himself...If that even _counts_ anymore."

Bumblebee chuckled. "Who knows, Sunstreaker... But our current issue is resolved. The viral transmitter is destroyed, Steeljaw has crawled back under whatever rock he's been under, and things can finally cool down."

"Until we reveal ourselves to the humans." Strongarm informed.

"Right...But that's not today...Today, we celebrate the small things."

"Like me!" Flashdrive announced.

Bumblebee picked up his daughter and kissed her cheek. "Right...Like you..."


	17. Conclusion

"...Are you sure you've gotten everything?"

Sunstreaker chuckled, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm sure, Sideswipe... I'll probably be saying sorry forever now, but I can promise that I'll contact you more often. And who knows? Maybe one of these days I'll just come back for a visit and not on business so I don't have a time limit."

Sideswipe smiled, "I'd appreciate that..."

"Be careful with that!"

The twins turned as Knockout shouted, guiding Strongarm and Drift as they carried Oversight's stasis pod into the ship. "We don't want to take any chances."

"Which is why you added a triple-secure lock on the pod, had them put a foot-thick piece of ice around the stasis pod itself and then requested it be put in the freezing bay of the ship until we get back to Cybertron, right...?" Sunstreaker teased.

The medic's optics narrowed. "You never can be too careful with these cons..."

"Uh huh... Starstrike, time to go!"

"Five more cycles...!?" Starstrike whined, poking her head out of the fort she and Flashdrive had made out of couch cushions.

"...Five."

"Yes!"

"Looks like everything's all set up." Bumblebee announced as he came up. "It's been a real pleasure, especially having Starstrike here to keep Flash busy..."

Sunstreaker shook his head slowly. "...I just can't believe she's yours... But I guess that's what Knockout's report is for."

"Right..." Knockout muttered, "...The report."

"You'll do fine, Knockout. You've spoken in front of crowds before."

"It's not the crowds I'm concerned about..." he shrugged. "At this point, I'm more focused on getting Wildbreak set straight, if I can."

Sunstreaker placed a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. "You guys just focus here on getting Steeljaw brought in again. Now that I've encountered him myself, I don't feel good letting him just roam the galaxy."

"We'll get him." Strongarm informed as she and Drift came back down the ramp. "You can count on it."

"Good...Alright, time's up, Star!"

"Aww...!" Starstrike crawled out of the fort and Flash followed, the two little bots giving hugs before Starstrike walked over to Sunstreaker and took his hand. "Okay, I'm ready."

"We'll be back one of these days... See you all later."

"Bye everybody!" Starstrike shouted as she ran up the ramp. She paused at the top, waving to Sideswipe. "Bye, Mr. Sideswipe!"

"Bye, Star!" Sideswipe replied, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "She called me '_Mr. Sideswipe_...!' I feel so old...!"

"Oh please, imagine how_ I_ feel..." Knockout muttered, giving the younger bot a wink. "Keep these guys outta trouble, Bumblebee."

"Somehow I always do, Knockout...Take care of yourself."

"You too..."

The team watched the ship slowly rise up, waving to them until it took off and disappeared from view. It took a few moments, but then Bumblebee gave a hard sigh of relief and plopped down on the trailer before leaning back into a lying position. "Primus, I'm exhausted..."

Flashdrive crawled over to him, looking down at his face. "You need a nap, Daddy?"

"I need a _vacation_, Flash..." Bumblebee stared up at the sky, quiet for a moment before smirking. "And that's _exactly_ what I'm going to do!"

"A vacation, Sir?" Strongarm asked.

Bumblebee sat up. "Yes. Steeljaw won't be making another move for a few weeks, which makes it the perfect time for me to get away from working for a little while...And, I can show Flashdrive some of my favorite places while I'm at it."

"Are you certain leaving us alone like that is such a good idea...?" Sideswipe asked cautiously. "I mean...What if Strongarm and I can't get along?"

"When have we ever gotten along before...?" Strongarm muttered.

Sideswipe glared at the cadet, before looking back to Bumblebee as he got up entirely. "I mean, I'm guessing you're leaving her in charge while you're gone."

"Not_ this_ time, Sideswipe... That responsibility is going to you."

"WHAT!?"

The shout came from all of the bots except Drift and Flashdrive, who gave a nod and excited squeal instead.

"Sir, you _cannot_ be serious!" Strongarm exclaimed, "He can't lead the team, he's a...A punk!"

"He's a valuable member of the team that I think could benefit from a little leadership experience. I was actually thinking of doing this before Flashdrive even showed up."

"Bumblebee, are you certain this is a good idea?" Drift asked. "Sideswipe's lack of maturity may put him at risk."

"I have faith in him...As I do all of you...Optimus trusted me to lead this team without any prior training, and I trust Sideswipe."

"Just because Optimus did it doesn't mean it's a good idea!"

Strongarm stiffened a little, grimacing. "...Please don't _ever_ tell him I said that."

Bumblebee chuckled. "You'll be fine, I'll only be gone a few days. If anything genuinely goes wrong, then I'll have Fixit groundbridge me back here to deal with it."

Flashdrive rushed up to Bumblebee, putting her arms around his waist. "Where are we going?"

Bumblebee picked her up and placed her on his shoulder. "Well...I was thinking we'd go to the mountains, and maybe drive around Europe a little..."

Flashdrive grinned. "Can we see the ocean too!?"

"Of course. A little mind like yours needs lots of stimulation, and what better way to stimulate than to show you the world...?"

Sideswipe tapped Bumblebee's shoulder. "Bee...I don't know about this either... I mean, I'm not really leader material..."

"I didn't think I was either, Sideswipe... Don't worry, just try to do things that are good for everybody and not just you, and you'll do just fine."

Sideswipe smiled. "Thanks for the advice...I'll try not to blow anything up while you're gone."

"Good plan..."

* * *

The snowy peaks of the mountains stood high over the valley where the Groundbridge opened up. Deer leapt into the brush, away from the glowing disturbance, and birds flew to the treetops. A few moments later, Bumblebee stepped out into the chilly darkness. He had his supplies stashed in his subspace, keeping his hands free. After a few moments the groundbridge faded away like it was never there, leaving the only light being from the moon, and the glowing optics of the lieutenant, and the toddler virocon sitting with a leg on either shoulder.

"Wow...!" Flashdrive whispered, her optics searching the valley. "...It's so quiet."

Bumblebee grinned. "Uh huh...And we have it all to ourselves tonight." Bumblebee took her off of his shoulders and into his arms. "No arguing Sideswipe and Strongarm, no decepticons to chase...Just you and me."

Flashdrive grinned, then planted a kiss on his cheek before hugging him. "...I love you, Daddy..."

Bumblebee placed a hand on the back of her head, a smile on his face despite the tears forming in his optics. "...I love you _too_, Sweetspark..."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, sorry for the super short and sappy ending there, but I wanted Bumblebee to have some _real_ downtime to bond with Flashdrive after everything. And their story isn't done! I'm in the middle of writing a sequel to this, where a few more people find out about Flashdrive's existence, and lots more canon characters make appearances, so stay tuned...**

**I'm also working on a short story about Knockout and Wildbreak's reunion...**

**Until then, see ya'll later!**


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